


But Why Daddy?

by simplyn2deep



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-30
Updated: 2014-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-02 18:30:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 40,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/372037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyn2deep/pseuds/simplyn2deep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She showed up on his doorstep after being gone for six months. She didn’t stay long either, only long enough to give birth to the baby she was carrying. Just as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared again, this time taking the one thing he now lives for – his daughter. **on hiatus 01-25-14**</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks ever so much to [](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=huntress69)[The Huntress](http://www.livejournal.com/users/huntress69/) for the wonderful beta job

For as long as he could remember, he’s loved Catherine Rollins and when she finally agreed to go out with him, Steve McGarrett was the happiest man in the world.

Six years earlier, Steve met Catherine during debriefing in San Diego after a mission. There was mutual flirting and she even slipped him her number as she was leaving the conference room. Steve didn’t know when or where his next mission would take him, so he made the most of his time in this particular port and called Catherine. They met up later that night for dinner and spent the next five nights together. The following week, Catherine was given orders to report to Hawaii where she would be aboard to USS Enterprise.

They didn’t see each other again after their time in Coronado. In fact, it was another six months before Steve and Catherine would cross paths again. This time it was somewhere in the Mediterranean and Steve’s SEAL team was hitching a ride on their next mission. It was also purely by chance that Catherine even knew Steve was aboard the ship. Steve, however, knew she was aboard and took the chance to call her. Catherine was surprised and when she took her break, they met for coffee and to catch up. Steve’s SEAL team prepped for their departure and he and Catherine made plans to meet up in Hawaii the next time they were both available.

\------

Meeting up whenever they had the chance was how their relationship formed. When Steve’s father was murdered and he was given the chance to head up the Governor’s special task force, the first person he told was Catherine. Naturally she was thrilled for him and that it meant for both of them. Steve was laying the foundation for them to start their life together, something they both wanted.

They were together for four years, six months, twelve days, ten hours and forty-five minutes. They were both happily in love with each other and everything was going for them.

\----

“She knows I’ll be picking her up right?” Danny asked.

“Yeah, I told her some story about you dropping off a family member and that you wouldn’t have a problem with bringing her here,” Steve said.

“She didn’t have a problem with being pawned off on me?” Danny laughed.

Steve laughed as well. “Nah, I want my best friend and my love to get to know each other better, and I told her as much.”

“Right. Thanks. Which one am I?” Danny joked. Steve laughed and cursed under his breath. “Hey, Super SEAL! No hurting yourself. What time should I drop her off?”

“About 6:30 p.m.,” he said as he jotted some information on a pad of paper. “I want everything to be perfect.”

Danny nodded his head at the comment and they continued to talk for another ten minutes. They both hung up the phone each saying that they would see the other later on in the day. Steve grabbed his keys and rushed out his house to get some last minute things.

At three p.m. Danny went to the airport to pick up Catherine but she wasn’t there. He waited for two hours then finally called Steve. “Steve, its Danny…”

“Hey D, did you get Catherine?” he asked as he stirred the contents of the pot on the stove

“She wasn’t here.” Danny said, “I waited for two hours and she never got off the plane.”

Steve nearly dropped the phone. “She…she wasn’t there?”

“No, I’m going to head home though. I have Grace this weekend and need to get ready for her,” Danny said. “I called every number I had for Catherine and no one answered.”

He sighed deeply wondering where his girlfriend could be. “Okay, go home and I’ll call around and see where she’s at. Thanks for waiting there that long.”

“Call me when you find out anything,” Danny said.

They hung up the phone. Steve turned off the pots he had going on the stove and took the phone to his office and flipped through the address book that sat on top of the desk. For nearly three hours he sat there and made calls and each time he got the same response, “Sorry Steve, we haven’t seen or heard from her in weeks.”

He finally slammed down the phone at nine p.m. completely frustrated that no one knew where she was, or they knew and they weren’t telling him. He rubbed his eyes, got up from the desk and headed to his room to try and sleep.

Three days later, Steve still hadn’t heard from Catherine and he was about to fly out to California to see if she was visiting with her parents when he got a call early in the morning of the fourth day.

“Hello?” Steve asked groggily

“Steve, don’t talk, just listen…” When Steve heard her voice he sat up in bed and turned on his night-light. “Most guys would get the hint that the person that they are looking for doesn’t want anything to do with them if they don’t return calls and don’t show up for their four year anniversary,” she paused and took a breath. “I won’t be coming back to Oahu, not now not ever. We’re over, through.” With that she hung up the phone.

Steve sat on the bed; his mind was reeling from what just happened. He quickly dialed her number again and it rang five times before the annoying sound of the operator’s voice started talking, _“I’m sorry, the number you have reached is no longer in service, please hang up and try the number again.”_ Steve did that three or four times, all of them resulting in the same automated response. The last time he tried, he thought he was dialing Catherine’s number but it ended up being Danny.

“Steve it’s four thirty in the morning. What could be so important that it couldn’t wait for a more decent hour?” He asked when he picked up the phone. Steve didn’t respond with words, but a cross between a sob and sigh was heard over the line. “Steve, babe, what’s the matter?”

“She…just ended it. After four and a half years of being together.”

Danny sat up in bed and turned on the lamp on the side table next to his pull out bed. “Steve, what are you talking about?”

“Catherine called and broke up with me,” He mumbled, “she said that she was never coming back to Oahu and hung up the phone.”

“Oh Steve, I’m so sorry, I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.” Danny replied. They hung up at the same time and Danny quickly got dressed. He grabbed his keys and jacket and headed to Steve’s house.

Ten minutes later, Danny pulled his driveway and rushed to the door. He put his key in the doorknob. “Steve, where are you?”

“Upstairs; don’t forget the alarm,” was the muffled reply. Danny punched in the code for the alarm, turned out the lights and went up to Steve’s room.

Found in the middle of the bed, Steve was bundled up with the remote to the TV in a vice like grip in his hands. The colors from the screen illuminated his face and the room as he flipped through the channels. He stopped flipping through the station when he landed on one of those infomercials that sell the compact discs with love songs on it.

Mariah Carey’s When I Saw You started to play and Steve gave a shuddering sigh, “Cath really loved that song…”

Danny sat on the bed and pulled him into a tight hug and didn’t let go until Steve’s breathing evened out. “Thanks.” He mumbled and hugged back.

\----

Six months later Steve was beginning to get over having his heart broken by the woman he loved and thought loved him. He heard from mutual friends that she was dating someone new and that _she seems really happy_. It was beyond Steve how someone who was in, what he thought was a, committed relationship for four years can so easily get back into dating…unless…no he didn’t want to think that Catherine would ever cheat on him. They were happy, they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other, and they wanted to have a family…kids.

No those were all Steve’s hopes and dreams. He knew Catherine never shared those particular dreams. Yes, she loved him, but she wasn’t in love with him like he was with her. She knew he wanted a family, but that just wasn’t in her life plan.

\----

Things changed drastically when Catherine’s life plans changed from having no children but a marriage, to possibly being a single mother.

Steve was seated comfortably in his living room watching TV and waiting for Danny to say that he finished their lunch when his mind drifted to Catherine. He had gone through a wide variety of emotions in the six months since their relationship ended.

At first Steve was on the verge of depression, then he decided that he needed to do something to take his mind off of her, so he busied himself with catching up on case reports that Governor was hounding him for. He spent a lot of time with Danny and Grace as they explored the Island. When Danny didn’t have Grace, the pair worked on the Marquis or did other renovations to the house. A few times Danny talked Steve into just relaxing in front of the TV for a game or a movie.

Now he was angry. He wanted to know why she left him – what changed in between the time she confirmed her travel plans to the time she broke them by not showing up. He also wanted to know if she was cheating on him. That thought alone was more crushing and angering.

It had been two weeks since he last thought about her. He thought about all the fun times they had going on little trips to California, and to Cancun. He thought about the first time they made love. That was the one thing that he would always remember because it was then that he realized that he really loved her.

_The first touch of his hand against her bare skin sent such a tremor, such a shiver inducing vibration through her, that for a single flash, for a single flickering of his love in his eyes, she feared falling away in a faint. He quieted her fears with loving eyes, letting teardrops descend from them without shame. He moved his body over hers so smoothly that it was like silk against her flesh. Gripping him to her, she breathed out heavily, awaiting the initiation of activity that would be the first introduction of his body to hers. He looked into her eyes with compassion and patience, holding her face in his hands warmly._

_"We'll go slowly, babe. And we'll stop when you need to stop. Just tell me what you need and how you feel. I want you to remember this night as something beautiful."_

_He kissed her again, then, thoughtfully, deeply and wholeheartedly. She traced the hardness of his body with her fingertips, marveling at the new sensations in her body. Her mind reeled, as for the first time, it seemed, she was tasting him, smelling him, hearing him. It was a new beginning this night._

_When she felt his length probing the inner recesses of her body, there came a sudden torrent of pleasure like none she had ever experienced. The indulgence in such pleasure was foreign to the nerve endings in her body, to the blood in her veins. It was unexpected to her when she realized how fully she wanted to give herself to him. It was distressing and disappointing when she realized how wasted her time had been with Chad. It was hurtful when she realized that as much as she had loved him, he had never made love to her. He had never loved her._

_She gasped as his thrusts into her drove a stream of elation into her, rising up to meet him as his hips collided with hers. For one moment in time, she wondered whose emotion-ridden voice it was she heard crying out into the darkness._

_"I love you, Steve…my God. I love you so much it's killing me." Her moan echoed into the black shadows of the room._

_His sigh died away into gasps of pleasure, and he buried his face, moist with perspiration from his exertion. Her body trembled with heavenly exhilaration, quaking in the tenderness of his embrace. She moaned through shaky tears as the height of her climax swelled inside of her, smiling into his hair when she felt the explosion of his love burst forth in her._

_"Shhh…don't cry, love…never again…no more tears ever again…" His arms encircled her tightly, holding her in the quiet, their breathing so matched that it was almost as if two people were only one. He kissed her forehead again, resting his lips there for a long moment as he pondered what they had just shared._

Despite what anyone thought of them, that night was the first time for both of them; the first of many wonderful nights that they would spend making love to each other, expressing their love for one another in the ways that only they could.

\----

Someone knocking at the door brought Steve out of his thoughts. He didn’t want to get up to answer it but at the same time he didn’t want them to keep knocking on the door.

Danny walked from the kitchen and stuck his head in the room where Steve was sitting, “Are you going to get that or were you just going to hope that they go away?”

“I was actually hoping that they would go away,” he said not looking from the TV.

Danny groaned and walked to the door, “Coming, I’m coming damn it! Don’t get your panties in a bunch!” he opened the door and didn’t know what to say.

“Danny!” the woman said. “It’s been a long time!” she gave Danny a hug.

“You’re…but why? You crushed him…” Danny looked at the woman again, “And you’re pregnant!” he yelled the last part.

Steve heard Danny and got up and walked to the door, “Catherine? What are...?” Danny stepped to the side and he was able to fully see Catherine. Steve didn’t say anything, he just walked back to the living room and both Catherine and Danny followed him. The room was silent and very unnerving. Danny went to the kitchen to let them be alone.

Catherine sat in a chair and tried her best to be happy but she knew that what she was about to say would turn Steve’s world upside down yet again. She had to do it, though. There was no way she was going to be a single mother and she also knew that Steve would be able to give a better life for the baby that she was carrying.

“Are you carrying my baby?” he asked looking directly at Catherine

“Yes, and that’s why I came back,” she replied.

“I don’t believe you!” Steve shot at her; raged flashed in his eyes. “You left on our anniversary night! I was going to propose to you!”

“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said. “I loved you. I just wasn’t in love with you anymore. When I found out I was pregnant I was scared to tell you anything. I was scared that you would dump me and I would have to be a single mother,” she paused and looked at him. “So many times I thought about having an abortion, but now it’s too late and I don’t want to keep this baby.”

“And you’re telling me this because?” He asked. “I mean, how am I to know that this baby is really isn’t someone else’s?”

“I NEVER cheated on you Steve!” Catherine yelled. Fresh tears pooled in her eyes. “I know that you’re mad at me for leaving but I loved you for four years. I would never hurt you by cheating on you! This baby is very much yours. I’m only here to let you know that if you don’t want it, I’m going to give it up for adoption.”

“If it’s mine like you say it is no one else is going to raise it but me!” Steve said rubbing his temples and taking a deep breath, “Just give me time to think about some stuff…”

“I understand, I’m staying at the Hilton Hawaiian Village,” she handed him a piece of paper with her room number and the address to the hotel on it and walked out. Steve followed her and then slammed the door behind her.

“God…” he walked back to the living room.

Danny came back and sat on the sofa; “You wanna talk about it?”

“No! No I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about anything damn it!” he snapped. “Why does everyone ask me that?”

“Jesus, maybe it’s because we care!” Danny said, his voice matching Steve’s volume.

“Yeah right…” Steve said sitting in the chair. “Everyone claims to care for me but it’s a load of shit!”

“I can’t talk to you like this!” he said. “Your food is done, and I have stuff to do!” he got up, grabbed his jacket from the back of the couch, keys from the table by the door and slammed the door on his way out.


	2. Chapter 2

A couple of hours went by and Steve calmed down. He was still sitting in his living room and he realized that Danny hadn’t come back yet. In fact no one bothered to call and see how he was doing. He was just about to call and apologize to Danny when the phone rang.

“Danny?” he asked when he picked up the receiver

“Umm guess again.” His sister said

“Oh Mary, has Danny called you?”

“Yeah he called and said you blew up at him after Catherine left. When did Catherine come back into town?” Mary asked

“I don’t know, but two hours ago she came by…and…and she’s pregnant.” He yelled the last part. “She said that it was mine and that she never cheated on me…but I can’t believe her.”

“So you yelled at Danny because of that?”

“No…yes…I didn’t mean to. I had all these pent up emotions in me and I left them go after Catherine left. Danny was just being nice and I snapped at him,” Steve said. “But what’s worse is that I told Catherine that I would keep the baby. I can’t raise a baby by myself and head up Five-0.”

“You’ll manage Steve, and you won’t be alone either,” Mary said. “I’ll move back to the house and help you. You have Danny, Kono, Chin…hell, I’m sure Rachel would help too.”

Steve cringed at the mention of the other names, “As soon as I tell them, you’re the first I’ve told.”

“Then call and tell them,” Mary said, “But first you need to apologize to Danny. He’s been there for you through everything and I don’t want you to ruin your friendship over Catherine.”

“Thanks Mare, and if…if Danny calls you again can you tell him to call me?”

“I’ll do that.” Mary said.

They hung up the phone and Steve went to eat the now cold food that was made for him. When he finished eating, he cleaned the kitchen and went the living room, picking up the cordless phone on the way. He sat down on the sofa and dialed Danny’s number.

Steve listened to the recorded greeting, and waited for the beep to leave a message. “D… I’m sorry for yelling like I did earlier. I don’t know what to do...I…I need your help with this. Call me or come back to the house.” He clicked off the phone and slumped into the sofa pulling his knees into his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs.

Danny stood in the entrance of the living room and watched Steve as he rocked himself back and forth. He walked up to him and gave him a swift smack to the back of the head. “If you really meant what you said just know then I’ll be here for you no matter what, but you gotta let me in every once and a while to know what you’re thinking. Don’t push me away.”

Steve jumped, rubbed the back of his head and nodded. “I meant every word that I said, I can’t do this alone and I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

“Then I’ll be here for you,” he said with a nod, “Now you have to call the family, then your lawyer friend who helped with your dad’s estate and then Catherine…now let’s get to work.” They smiled at each other before Steve picked up the phone again to call the family, or rather Chin and Kono.

He didn’t want to have to explain two different times why he needed them so he asked if they could come by the house for beer and pizza in a couple of hours. They agreed and Steve let out a silent breath. He didn’t know why he was worried they wouldn’t be there for him, they’re Ohana and always there for each other.

“So…they’re coming over?” Danny asked, “Why am I asking. Of course they’re coming over.”

“Yes, they said they’d be here in a couple hours.” Steve said with a slight smile.

Danny cupped his hand behind Steve’s head and rubbed his fingers along the short hairs at the nape of his neck, “Don’t worry about it. We’re all going to be here for you.” He said, “And as you so often tell me, I’m the best dad you’ve ever met.”

Steve laughed and leaned into Danny’s hand, “That you are.”

\----

Catherine sat on the bed in her hotel room contemplating on whether she should call this whole baby thing off and just go back to California. She didn’t even tell her boyfriend that she was leaving and now she was going to be gone from him for three months. How was she going to explain this to him? Catherine had gotten herself into quite a mess in the last six months.

She in fact did cheat on Steve and the catch was that she had sex with both Steve and her new boyfriend, Nick Taylor within a day of each other so she didn’t know who the father of the baby was. Her boyfriend now didn’t even know that she was with anyone when they met, some three years before. Nick thought that he was the baby’s father, not knowing that there was a very high possibility that he wasn’t.

Catherine picked up the phone by the bed to call Nick. The phone at the house rang a couple of times before the answering machine picked up.

“Nick and Catherine can’t come to the phone right now because they’re off having wild monkey sex. Leave a message after the beep.” She waited for the beep and began her message.

“Nick, I’m in Oahu taking care of some business. I’ll call you later on tonight to tell you where I’m staying and when I’ll be back. I love you.” She hung up the phone and walked over to the TV and turned it on hoping to take her mind off things.

+*+

The next day Steve called his lawyer, explained the situation and after being assured that papers would be drawn up, a meeting was arranged for later that afternoon. He requested that Catherine be present during their meeting so he called her too. Steve tried calling Catherine’s hotel room number, but it rang four times, so he tried her cell phone.

_“This is Catherine Rollins, I’m busy at the moment so leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you.”_

This was becoming a routine thing for Steve. He would call someone and the voicemail would pick up. He would listen to the message, wait for the beep and then leave his message.

“Catherine, I need you to meet me at three p.m. at Robert Jamison’s office on Bishop Street...the one who handled my father’s estate. It’s really important that you be there.” He ended the call and made a few additional calls.

When he finished, Steve grabbed his jacket and car keys and headed to his car to go to his lawyer’s office. He hoped that Catherine got his message and was on her way to the office.

At fifteen minutes to three he pulled in the parking lot and parked next to Catherine’s car. He put his sunglasses on and got out of the car. He walked into the office and knocked on Robert Jamison’s door. He heard papers being moved around, “it’s open Steve.” Steve opened the door and saw that Catherine was already there with another man in the room.

“I hope you don’t mind that I decided to have my lawyer present during this?” Catherine said as Steve took a seat on the other side of the table next to his lawyer.

“No…I don’t mind.” Steve replied coolly.

“I’m Cole Paulson, Ms. Rollins’s lawyer.” He held out his hand to Steve

“Steve…Lt. Commander Steve McGarrett.” Steve wasn’t one for throwing his full name and rank around, especially when dealing with private matters, but he was still reeling from the news Catherine gave him, “I didn’t know you could afford such a lucrative lawyer, Catherine.”

“Oh I’m a friend of the family and I want to make sure that she and the baby are taken care of until she is given birth.”

Steve had a puzzled look on his face, “I’m not following here; can you please explain this further to me?”

“You see Steve, Catherine has requested that she stay with you…in your house.” Mr. Paulson began. He shuffled through his briefcase and took out some papers, “She will be staying with you for the next four months…three months until she has the baby and one month after that.”

Steve’s mouth dropped, “I have to house her? I mean, can’t I just pay for her hotel stay?”

“Steve! I can’t believe you!” Catherine said, “I mean just ship me back to California why don’t you! It’s only four months!”

“Steve, it would be nice for you to help her out…you know, take her to the doctor, help with the getting of baby things…stuff like that.” Steve’s lawyer, Robert Jamison said

Steve nodded his head as Catherine’s lawyer began to speak again, “She also requires four hundred for her personal things. That comes to one hundred a month.”

“I have to give her money too?” Steve began to get a little mad, “Is there anything else?”

“No there’s nothing else.” Catherine said

Robert Jamison handed papers to Steve, Catherine and her lawyer, Mr. Paulson, “In these papers you’ll see that we are asking for full custody of the baby once it is born. At which time, Steve can decide if he wants Catherine to have anything to do with the baby.”

“That’s fine with me.” Catherine said, “I’m in no condition to take care of a baby. I know Steve will do a better job than I can.” She reached for a pen to sign the papers

“Wait, Catherine…I have to know something,” Steve said stopping her from signing the papers. She looked at him, “Are you sure this is MY child?”

She looked him straight in the eyes, “Steven, I am one hundred percent sure the baby is yours. I didn’t cheat on you.” After skimming over the papers, she signed them and gave them back to Steve’s lawyer.

\------

Nick checked his messages and heard the one from Catherine, so he called her right back, “Baby, I’m sorry I didn’t call you back sooner. I was over my parents’ house. Call me if you need anything for you or the baby. Better yet, call me once you get this. I love you.”

He hung up the phone and walked by the room that he was setting up for his new baby. He was out the previous day with his parents looking at baby furniture and getting baby clothes and other things that the baby would need. Never did he think that this soon into his relationship with Catherine that they would be having a child together. He and his entire family were completely ecstatic at there was going to be another member of the family.

\----

Steve went back with Catherine to her hotel to help her gather her things and pack them in his truck. They then headed to his house to set up her room and get her settled in for the next four months. They sat down and made a list of the things that they would need to get for Catherine as well as the baby.

At the end of the day, Steve sat on his bed looking through some pictures and as he drifted off to sleep, he thought about how much his life was going to change with his new son or daughter.

\----

True to what Mary told Steve, she took a leave from school and her job to temporarily move from the Big Island, back to her old house – Steve’s house – to help out. She only wanted to stay a few days and then she was going to rent a place nearby as to not always be in Steve’s way, but Steve insisted she stay at the house.

“But what about Danny?” she asked, “Didn’t you tell me he moved in?”

Steve gave a bit of a nervous laugh, “Yeah…don’t worry about.”

Mary eyed her brother, “Did you guys finally bite the bullet and get together?” she smirked

“Oh God…” Steve rolled his eyes, “Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re working on that.”

Mary laugh, “I don’t want to be putting him or Grace out of a room.”

Steve sighed, “If it’ll make you feel any better, Chin knows someone who got Danny a good deal on a two bedroom place not far from here. Six months tops he’ll be there, after that he might be here.” he gave a shrug of his shoulders.

\----

“MARY!” Catherine called out from her bedroom

Mary went up to her room and opened the door, “What do you want?”

“Can you help me to the bathroom?” Catherine asked sweetly

“Jesus! You’re only six and a half month pregnant!” Mary said stomping to the bed and helping the woman up, “I swear if you ask me to wipe your ass I will take the baby out of you myself and shoot you!” Mary took Catherine to the bathroom and then went back down to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry that she’s running you around so much, Mare.” Steve said kissing her cheek, “But she won’t ever take the help from me when I offer.”

Mary smiled, “I’m only doing this so that I make sure she doesn’t suck you dry.”

“Oh you know you want to spend more time with me,” He laughed, “So what’s for dinner?”

“Well, the royal mommy wants baked potatoes and fried chicken along with macaroni and cheese.” Mary said, “And I know you won’t let me cook, so I called Danny and the saint that he is…he whipped up something and brought it over.

Steve made a face and refrained from making any comments about unnecessary fatty foods, “Need any help?”

“Yes I do…set the table and then go tell Catherine that her food is ready.” Mary said, “And then after that, I need a shot of Jack Daniels to get me through the rest of the night.”

Steve did all that Mary asked him to do and then he called Danny and asked if he and Grace could come over and keep him company.

“Babe…like you even have to ask.” Danny said with a laugh, “Let me get Grace’s things together and we’ll be over in fifteen.”

\----

It had been a month since Nick last saw Catherine and about four days since he last talked to her. He knew that she was staying with a friend and was being very well taken care of. He decided to pay Catherine a surprise visit just to see how she was doing. He booked his flight from San Diego to Honolulu and had hotel and car reservations waiting once he arrived.

He packed enough clothes to last him a couple of weeks and he locked up the house and got in the waiting taxi that was going to take him to the airport. Forty-five minutes later he arrived at the airport, paid the driver and checked his luggage. He headed up to the gate and sat waiting for his flight to be called.

“Now boarding First Class on Flight 75 to Honolulu, Hawaii. All passengers sitting in First Class need to please have your ticket and I.D. out and ready to show a flight attendant.”

Nick knew that he would be called next so he got his ticket and I.D. out and made sure he had his carry-on luggage ready.

“Now boarding Business Class rows one through twenty. All passengers sitting in Business Class need to please have your ticket and I.D. out and ready to show a flight attendant.”

Nick got up and headed to the information desk and showed them in I.D. and ticket and walked down the ramp to the waiting airplane. He found his seat and put his things in the overhead compartment and sat down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come back on Wednesday for the next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Catherine shifted her body trying to get comfortable in the doctor’s office. Steve wanted to know the sex of the baby and Danny was there for support. Mary was back at the house supervising the redecoration of her old room into the nursery for her niece or nephew.

“Ms. Rollins…the doctor will see you know. Room five at the end of the hall.” The receptionist called over the counter.

Steve stood up first and then helped Catherine. Danny placed a steadying hand on Catherine’s back before standing up as well. They walked to the room and sat in the chairs in the room. Catherine sat on the end of the examining table and tried to get comfortable yet again.

A couple of minutes later, the doctor came in the room and set her clipboard on the table and introduced herself. “Hello, I’m Dr. Rosen and I’ll be your doctor for the rest of your pregnancy.” She moved some instruments around and told Catherine to lay back and make herself comfortable. “Now, Ms. Rollins, according to your intake forms, you’re far enough along that we can try to find out the sex of the baby and doing an overall check up for you.” Dr. Rosen sat in a chair next to Catherine, “Ms. Rollins?”

“Please, call me Catherine.” She smiled

“Okay. Catherine, I’m going to rub some jelly on your stomach and take this transducer and try and find a heartbeat then I’ll flip this switch and we’ll be able to see the baby on the screen here.” She explained and pointed to each of the things.

Catherine nodded her head and pulled her top up so the jelly could be put on her stomach. They continued the examination, heard a strong heartbeat and as Dr. Rosen was ending the examination, the baby shifted and the body was in clear view so the sex of the baby was very noticeable.

Dr. Rosen moved the transducer around some until a clear picture of the baby could be seen. “It looks like this baby is going to be nice and let us get a clear view of her.”

“D-did you just say her?” Steve asked

“Yes I did Mr. McGarrett,” Dr. Rosen said. “This here is a little girl. Congratulations. Would you like a picture?”

Catherine and Steve nodded their head and the doctor pressed a button on the machine and the picture was printed out. Dr. Rosen handed them to Steve and turned off the machine. “It looks like the baby is healthy and you Catherine, you are doing just fine. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling fine and I’m really glad that I have Steve, Danny and Steve’s sister Mary to help me out when I can’t do stuff for myself.”

“Well, you are mighty lucky to have friends like them.” Dr. Rosen smiled.

There were a few choice words both Steve and Danny wanted to respond with, but instead they smiled and nodded their heads.

~**~

“Ladies and Gentlemen we are about to land at the Honolulu International Airport and the temperature is a balmy seventy-eight degrees out and the time is five ten p.m.” The pilot said, “So please fasten your seat belts and return your tray tables and seat backs to their upright positions and it was a pleasure flying with you.”

Nick did as instructed and prepared to get off the plane. Once the plane got to the ramp/gate he waiting until the fasten seatbelt light went off and then he took his off. He stood up, got his carry-on bag and began to walk off the plane. He smiled and thanked the greeter for the lei before going to baggage claim for his other suitcase. Once he had everything, he headed to the car rental center to get his car.

\----

As he waited for the rental to be brought to the front he took out his cell and called Catherine. “This is Catherine, I’m busy right now, so leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you.”

“Catherine baby, I’m in town and was thinking that we should meet up for dinner tonight. I’m staying that the Hilton Hawaiian Village, but call me on my cell. I love you.” He hung up the phone and tried calling and seeing if one of his other friends was in town.

“This is Mary, I can’t come to the phone right now so do it after the beep.”

“Hey Mare, its Nick. I’m in town for some time visiting my girlfriend and I was wondering if you and you brother wanted to meet up for lunch tomorrow. Anyways, I’m staying at the Hilton but call me on my cell when you get this.” He ended the call and walked to the parking lot where he was told his rental car was waiting for him. He was glad the car had a navigational system as it was his first time to Hawaii and he didn’t want to get lost. He put in the address to the hotel and was soon on his way.

\----

Mary rushed into the house before she dropped the bags she was carrying and set them on the counter before going back for the rest. She had been out shopping with Kono and Grace and was dead tired from looking at baby things.

Mary felt her pocket vibrate and fished her cell phone out. She had a missed call and voicemail waiting for her. She put the last of the bags down before pressing a series of buttons on the phone to retrieve the message.

She listened to the message and made a mental note to ask Steve if he wanted to meet up with Nick later this week for lunch. Then she gathered the things that Catherine was going to need and placed them in another bag and set it on the breakfast counter and then took all of the baby things into the living room where Kono and Grace were watching TV and going through some other bags.

\----

“Girls we’re home!” Steve called as he walked into the house, “And we come bearing good news too!”

“Oh really?” Kono asked as she shook out at baby blanket and refolded it, “What’s the good news?”

“It’s a girl!” Danny said as he leaned down to kiss the top of Grace’s head, “Have fun shopping Monkey?”

Grace smiled and nodded her head, “Danno, you should see all the stuff we got!”

“That’s great!” Kono hopped up to give Steve a hug.

“Have you thought of any names?” Mary asked

“Not really,” Catherine said taking a seat

“Oh not so happy about the birth of your first child?” Kono asked in a sarcastic tone. Up until Catherine came back into Steve’s life, she didn’t have a problem with the woman, but now, she really had to work at being civil with her. Kono didn’t understand how Danny and to a lesser extent, Mary, was able to do it.

Catherine shot her a glare and grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl from the middle of the table.

“Aww what’s the matter Catherine?” Mary asked, “Not taking well to the pregnancy?”

Catherine shook her head, “Not keeping anything down…getting fat…clothes not fitting anymore.”

“So Mare, how much damage did the three of you do with my credit cards?” Steve asked changing the subject.

“Not too bad,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Now that we know the baby is a girl, we’re going to take some stuff back and exchange them.” She began to go through some bags, “Oh and Nick called. He wants to meet up for lunch or something.”

Catherine went pale at the mention of the name Nick. ‘No it can’t be the same Nick that I left back in California,’ she thought to herself. ‘I told him I would call if anything came up.’

Mary noticed Catherine’s reaction to the name Nick and smirked, “Why Catherine, whatever could be the matter?”

Catherine just sat there and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach, “I don’t feel too well,” she said standing up. “I’m going to lie down.”

“Okay Catherine, call down if you need anything.” Danny said. He made his way to the kitchen to check on the items he had baking in the oven.

Catherine walked up to the stairs to her room and sat on the bed. She rifled through her purse looking for her cell. When she found it she noticed that she had a call and pushed the button to listen to the message. When she heard his voice and that he was in town she literally felt sick and ran to the bathroom, slammed the door and threw up.

Steve, Danny, Mary and Kono heard the running and the door slamming and became a bit worried. “Maybe I should go check on her….” Steve said walking to the stairs

“No let me.” Mary stood up and walking to the stairs. “She’ll probably say she doesn’t want your help and then call for me.”

“All right,” Steve said walking back to the table and sitting in one of the chairs.

Mary got to the upstairs bathroom and knocked on the door. “Catherine are you okay in there…we’re all worried downstairs.”

“Hold on a sec…” Catherine said into her cell, “Yeah, I’m fine Mary…just got a little sick to my stomach.”

‘Who is she talking to?’ Mary thought to herself. “Okay, if you need anything give a holler.” She turned and to walk down the stairs.

Catherine didn’t say anything in response, but went back to her phone conversation. “Nick, what the hell are you doing in town?!” she practically yelled, but kept her voice down in case anyone else was up stairs.

\----

‘Nick?’ Mary thought as she made her way down the stairs, ‘how does she know Nick?’

“So how is she?” Steve asked, “Does she need anything?”

“She’s okay and she said she didn’t need anything right now.” Mary said sitting down, “Does Catherine know Nick?”

Steve looked at her, “Not that I know of…why do you ask?”

“Just wondering, that’s all.” Mary was thinking about what she heard.

\----

“Well, Nick?!” Catherine asked again.

“I wanted to see you. It’s been a month and I got a few weeks off from work to see how you’re doing and if these friends of yours are treating you and the baby right.” He laughed as he said the last part.

“Well, I’m fine and the baby is fine too.” Catherine said, “I went to the doctor and it’s a girl.”

“A girl,” Nick repeated, half to himself. “Have you thought of any names yet?”

“No I haven’t,” she said, “We’ve been doing a lot here and this is actually the first time that I’ve had a chance to think much about of anything.” She yawned.

“Oh, sweetie, you must be tired.” Nick said as he heard her yawn again, “I’ll let you go and maybe another time we can go out. I love you.”

“Ditto.” She said as she clicked off her cell. She got up, flushed the toilet, washed her hands and face and walked back downstairs.

“Feeling any better?” Danny asked as he looked up from the pile of vegetables he was rinsing off. Steve practically demanded a fresh salad to go with the roast that was being cooked.

“A little.” Catherine said, “Where did Steve and Kono go?”

“Over to my place to pick up some things for you and the baby,” Danny said with a smile.

Catherine nodded her head and walked out the kitchen’s sliding doors onto the lanai and sat in one of the chairs and stared into space.

\----

“Steve, tell me again why Catherine didn’t come with you?” Kono asked as she grabbed the bags that Danny told her about.

“She wasn’t feeling well.” Steve simply stated. “I guess the pregnancy is taking more of a toll on her body than she cares to have others believe.”

Kono nodded her head and packed more things into other bags, “All set. I think there’s some other stuff, but I can’t find it.”

Steve shrugged his shoulders, “Well, Danny can come back and get it later.” They left the house and Steve made sure to turn on the alarm and lock up before going back to his house.

\----

Catherine sat outside on the swing that Danny set up a few hours ago and decided that she would take Nick up on his offer for dinner. She got up and went back inside to call him again.

Danny was sitting in the kitchen when she overheard part of Catherine’s conversation is the hallway between the kitchen and the stairs.

“Yes Nick, I’ll meet you for dinner tonight.” Catherine said

Nick smiled at the fact of seeing his girlfriend for the first time is nearly two months. “Okay, I’ll pick you up in a couple of hours.…”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll meet you at The Red Lobster on Main and Beach in 45 minutes.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then.” He said, “I love you.”

“I know.” Catherine said before hanging up and walking into the kitchen.

Danny went back to acting like he was reading some magazine that came in the mail and looked up when Catherine walked in, “Are you hungry, Cath?”

“Oh, no thank you,” Catherine said. “I’m meeting a friend for dinner in about thirty minutes.”

Danny nodded his head. “I’ll tell Steve. Have a nice time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> check back on Friday for the next chapter


	4. Chapter 4

Catherine pulled into the parking lot at The Red Lobster, parked, got out and walked into the restaurant. Nick was sitting on the side waiting for her.

“Hey baby.” He stood up and gently hugged her. “You look so beautiful.”

Catherine smiled a bit. “Thank you.”

“Taylor party of two….” the attendant said into the mic attached to the podium. 

Nick and Catherine walked up and they were taken to their waiting booth. They were given menus, ordered their drinks and waited to place their food order.

While they were waiting Nick took something out of his pocket and placed it next in his lap and looked at Catherine. “Catherine,” she looked up from menu, “you know that I love you with all my heart, right?”

Catherine gave Nick an odd look and slowly nodded her head. “I know.”

“And that I would do anything and everything for you, no matter how big or small it was?” he continued. She nodded her head again as he brought the box up to the table and opened it. “Will you marry me?”

Catherine looked at the ring and then to Nick. “I…I can’t.” She got up and ran the best she could out of the restaurant. 

Nick quickly got up and followed her out. He looked around for her but didn’t see her.

\------

Catherine’s mind was spinning and everything was becoming fuzzy. She wanted to sit down…she needed to sit down. She reached for the nearest bench to sit but missed it and landed on the ground.

Nick went around to the side of the building and got to Catherine just as she was landing on the ground. He rushed right to her and helped her up. ‘Oh please let her and the baby be all right,’ he thought to himself. A crowd of people began to gather where he was.

“Someone call an ambulance.” He heard a voice say. He didn’t realize that he said those words until a man tapped him on the shoulder.

“What happened to her?” the man asked

“She…she came outside for some fresh air and fainted.” Nick said. The man went back to talking on the phone and turned to Nick.

“The ambulance should be here shortly, they said to lay her on the bench and to put something under her head.”

Another man stepped forward and helped Nick pick Catherine up and lay her on the bench. Nick took his jacket off and placed it under her head just as the ambulance was pulling up. The medics made quick work of getting Catherine on the stretcher and into the ambulance. They questioned Nick and radioed the information to the hospital.

+*+

Once at the hospital, a nurse approached Nick asking for the contact information of where Catherine was staying.

Nick gave the nurse a blank look, “I…I don’t know where she was staying.” He searched his pockets for Catherine’s cell phone and when he didn’t find it, he checked the purse the nurse pointed out to him. He fumbled with the phone before the nurse offered to help him with it and handed over the phone, running a shaky hand through his hair.

“There isn’t an ‘in case of emergency’ contact number, but there are several calls to a Mary McGarrett.” The nurse said. “Do you think she was staying with her?”

Nick rubbed his head a bit absentmindedly, the name not fully registering with him. “Yeah probably. I guess.” His eyes continually darted to the curtained area where Catherine had been taken.

The nurse nodded her head, jotted the name and number down before handing the phone back to Nick. “I’ll just give her a call and let her know.” Nick nodded again.

The nurse placed the call to Mary, and then informed Nick that someone by the name of Steve would be at the hospital shortly. Again, Nick was still in a daze and concerned for Catherine to register what the nurse was telling him. He simply nodded his head and continued to wait for the doctor to return and tell him how Catherine was doing.

+*+

Steve and Kono were on their way from Danny’s house when Mary called and said that Catherine had fainted and was rushed to the hospital. Steve quickly turned the Camaro around and headed in the direction of the hospital. Kono called Danny to tell him what happened and where they were going. Kono could tell Danny was torn about being there with Steve and staying with Grace.

“Mary’s too far from the house, so I’ll call Chin and you can take Steve’s truck and join us.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Kono,” Danny said with a sigh of relief. “Try to keep Steve from freaking out and I’ll be there as soon as Chin gets here.”

Kono ended the call with Danny and called Chin to ask him to swing by Steve’s to watch Grace. She also told him what happened with Catherine and where they were going.

\------

Twenty minutes later they arrived just as Catherine was being taken to a room. Steve rushed in the direction that she was going and bumped into someone.

“Sorry,” he said

“No, it was my fault,” Nick said, looking up. “Steve, what are you doing here?”

Steve allowed his eyes to focus on who was talking to him. “Nick? What are you doing here?”

“I asked you first.” He said

“My sister called and told me that my ex fainted.”

“Oh it’s nice to know that you’re still cordial with your ex,” Nick said. “My girlfriend, Catherine, fainted outside the Red Lobster.”

Steve looked from the room where Catherine was and back to Nick. “What did you say her name was?”

“Catherine…why?” he asked. Steve just shook his head and went in the direction of the room. “Wait, McGarrett, why are you going into my girlfriend’s room?”

\------

Kono was walking by Steve and the man he was talking to when she caught the last part of their conversation. ‘His girlfriend?’ She asked herself, ‘I bet Catherine was cheating on him.’ She walked right into Catherine’s room as the doctor was checking her out.

“How could you?” Kono asked once the doctor left the room. Catherine looked up at Kono, confusion written all over her face. “Don’t play stupid with me, Catherine. Steve knows everything so you might as well come clean about it.”

Catherine looked Kono dead in the eyes. “Kono,” she said trying to keep her nerves about her, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.” Catherine said before trying to turn over.

“Well, make it fast. Steve AND Nick are on their way in.” Kono made her way out of the room just as Steve and Nick began another heated conversation.

\------

“What do you mean she’s your girlfriend?!” Steve asked, getting within inches of Nick’s face. “We barely broke up seven months ago!”

“We’ve been seeing each other off and on for almost three years!”

Rage flashed in Steve’s eyes. “That bitch has been cheating on me for almost the entire time we’ve been together?” he balled his hands into fists and never broke his gaze from Nick, “And you…you knew that I was dating her and you still went after her!”

Nick put his hands up in defense and took some steps back. “Steve, man, I had no idea that you and she were dating…honest man. I would never do that to you.”

“You lying son of a bitch!” Steve stalked closer to Nick. “It’s all clear to me. When you cloned my phone during that joint investigation a few years ago, you probably got all my info – pictures and contacts too!”

“She told me that you guys had broken up.”

\------

Once Kono left Catherine’s room, she pulled her cell phone out and called Mary. Without greeting, she got right to the point. “I know what it is now…” she said in a hushed whisper as she overheard what Nick said.

“You know what what is?” Mary asked.

“What Catherine is hiding from Steve…from all of us,” Kono said excitedly then she paused. “This is going to crush Steve.”

“Umm, lost person here,” Mary replied. “Please fill the lost person in as to why my brother will be crushed and what exactly Catherine is hiding from us.”

Kono sat down, took a couple of cleansing breaths before she spoke. “Nick’s girlfriend is Catherine.”

Mary gasped. “What? Are you sure? How do you know?”

“Nick said it himself,” Kono replied. “I overheard part of their conversation. Steve was going into Catherine’s room and Nick asked Steve why he was going into his girlfriend’s room.”

\----

Chin got to Steve’s house and Danny got into Steve’s truck to head to the hospital and wait with Steve and Kono. As Danny entered the hospital and made his way down the familiar hall towards the emergency waiting room, he heard Steve’s familiar voice yelling at someone. Danny picked up his pace and got to Steve before he punched whomever he was bellowing at.

“Steve, babe, calm down,” Danny said placing his hand on Steve’s arm and attempting to pull him away.

“Danny,” Steve began, “if you know what’s best you’ll move out of the way.”

“I’m not moving until you calm the hell down!” Danny said, still standing in between Nick and Steve.

Steve glared at Nick and turned to walk away. As he walked towards the waiting room he mumbled, “I can’t believe she lied to me.”

\------

Kono was still on the phone with Mary, but quickly ended it when she heard Danny’s voice and saw Steve leaving from his shouting match with Nick.

“Mare, I gotta go. Danny just got here, and it’s not looking good.” 

“You think he knows?” Mary asked

“I think he does,” Kono said as she ended the call.

\------

Before Danny left to go back to where everyone was he spoke to Nick. “It’d be a good thing if you got this all straightened out…and soon”

“Believe me I will!” Nick said

“And do it before Steve has a chance to call his lawyer and amend any custody arrangements he has with Catherine.”

Nick let the last part of what Danny sink in before it hit him, “This baby might not be mine….” he said out loud as he walked into Catherine’s room.

“Catherine, we have to talk.” Nick pulled a chair next to her bed

“About what?” she asked.

“McGarrett was here and he said that you guys were still together. Is that true?”

Catherine looked at him and nodded her head. “We were together but that ended almost eight months ago.”

“Then who is the father of the baby?”

“I don’t know.” Catherine said, “I only told him that I was pregnant and that he could be the father because he could provide much better than we could ever dream of.”

“You never had any intentions of telling me that there was a possibility that I wasn’t the father, did you?”

Catherine sighed. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“How about, ‘Nick, Steve and I were together while I was with you. I was cheating on him with you and he could be the father of this baby.’”

“I thought about saying that, but I didn’t know how you would take it,” she said. “I love you so much and I want us to be together, but I don’t see having children in our life plan.”

“Did you ever think that I possibly wanted children? That I saw us having children and being a family in our future?” Catherine shook her head. “So how can you possibly think that we could ever continue to be together without thinking about what I would possibly want?”

A nurse lightly knocked on the door and opened it a bit, “The doctor said you’re free to go; I just need to unhook everything.” Catherine nodded her head and Nick moved out of the way. “The doctor also wants you to seriously take it easy. The baby is fine, but that doesn’t mean that you can continue to push yourself.”

“I know,” Catherine sighed. “I’ll take it easy from now on.”

The nurse smiled and continued to unhook everything. She handed the clipboard with Catherine’s information to her and Catherine quickly looked them over before signing the release forms.


	5. Chapter 5

Three hours had gone by and Steve hadn’t said a word. Everyone was sitting in Steve’s living room. Danny was in the kitchen getting something for Grace to eat before he had to drop her back at Rachel and Stan’s house.

Chin opened his mouth to talk and Steve cut him off. “I don’t want to talk about it, so can we just drop it?”

Danny handed a plate of reheated pizza to Grace and then went to the sofa and sat next to Steve. “Okay babe, you don’t have to talk about it but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk in general.”

“I know, but I just don’t want to talk about Catherine and how she’s a lying bitch.”

“Who may be carrying your daughter.” Mary interjected. Steve shot her a look. “Don’t even give me that look; I’ll be up and out of here faster than you think if you pull anymore crap with me.”

Steve sighed again, “Look, Mare, you know I don’t mean to snap and be a general ass with you, but I don’t know how else to react.”

“I understand that,” Mary said. “But you have to understand where we’re coming from.”

“You know we want the best for you, but we can’t help you when you get into your moods,” Danny said calmly.

“No offense to you, Kono,” Chin began, “but you’re worse than she is when it’s that time of the month.” 

Kono and Mary rolled their eyes.

Danny gently placed his hand on Steve’s thigh. “Do you want this baby?”

Steve looked Danny directly in the eyes. “I want to keep this baby. Whether she’s mine or not, I want to keep her.”

“Let me talk to Nick then,” Danny said. “I don’t like the man, but you’re in no position to talk with him about this and I’ll be damned if I let him tear my family apart.”

Steve shook his head. “He’s got a temper like you do and probably just as dangerous as I am when backed in a corner.”

“I don’t care, Steve - I mean, I do care, but I’ll be okay.” Danny smiled a little. “He may have SEAL training, but I bet he’s never come against someone from New Jersey. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll give you the number of Rachel’s lawyer who handled the first round of custody arrangements.”

Steve looked at Danny. “You’d do that…for me?”

“Steve, I love you. You’re family.” He waved his arms around, “We’re all family here and will do anything in our power to help you.” He leaned over and lightly kissed his lips. “You aren’t as alone as you think you are.”

Steve smiled against Danny’s lips, “Thanks,” and he pulled away.

“No problem.” Danny’s smile grew into a grin. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to drop Grace back with Rachel, and maybe see about talking with that lawyer.” He gathered Grace’s bags and ushered Grace out after she said her goodbyes to everyone.

Twenty minutes later, Danny pulled into Stan and Rachel’s driveway. He shut off the car and got out with Grace. They walked to the door and as they reached the porch, Rachel opened the door.

“Hello sweetheart,” she said leaning down to kiss her daughter’s head. “Did you have fun with your father and Steve?”

Grace nodded her head. “I had a lot of fun, mommy. Kono, Auntie Mary and I went shopping.”

Rachel raised an eyebrow, looked at Danny then back to Grace. “You did? And what did you buy?”

“Clothes for Uncle Steve’s new baby,” Grace said as she skipped into the house and up to her room.

Rachel turned her attention to Danny, who was still standing on the porch with his hands in his pockets. “Daniel,” Rachel said in her usual clipped accent.

Danny nodded his head. “Rachel.…”

Rachel stared at Danny and waited for him to speak. She knew if she waited long enough he’d finally tell her what she wanted to know.

The silence lasted all of three minutes – Danny staring at Rachel and Rachel staring at Danny.

“So, remember how Steve was dating Catherine for years and she up and called it off with him?” Rachel nodded her head and Danny continued. “Well, she showed up a few months ago and she’s pregnant.”

If Rachel was surprised by this news, she didn’t let on. She did however move to the side to allow Danny to come in and when he did, she closed the door behind him. Rachel walked to the kitchen and Danny followed. He walked to the breakfast bar, pulled out a stool and sat down.

“So they’ve gotten back together?”

“That would be no,” Danny said. He was already revealing Steve’s secrets, he might as well continue. “Catherine cheated on Steve with an old Navy buddy of his. There’s some question as to who the father is.”

Rachel started the coffee maker before pulling out a bar stool and sitting down as well. “I see,” she said after some silence. “What does Steven plan on doing about it?”

“Steve has a lawyer who drafted some papers and Catherine signed them, but this was before Steve found out about the infidelity. Now that it’s out and there’s a possibility he’s not the father, he needs the best lawyer possible to help him out.”

Rachel nodded knowingly. “He needs Lizanne Sawyer.” 

Danny was grateful that Rachel understood what he was hinting at. 

“I’ll get you her number and you can call her this evening.” Rachel stood up and began to walk from the kitchen. “Do help yourself to some coffee. I’ll get Lizanne’s card for you.”

A few minutes later, Rachel returned with the promised business card and handed it over to Danny. “She’s in the office for a few more hours today then you can catch her first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks Rachel.” Danny finished his coffee, went off to find Grace and kiss her goodbye, and then headed to the hospital to pick Catherine up.

+*+

Catherine slowly sat up in bed and reached for her clothes. Nick stood by and watched her. “Be pissed at me all you want, but at least hand me my clothes.”

Nick did as she requested. “If you think that I’m not going to put up a fight when it comes to my child, you’re wrong.”

“You’re a bit too late for that.” Catherine pulled her shirt over her head and stood. “I’ve already signed over all rights to Steve. She will be his daughter.”

“Not if I have anything to do with it.” Nick got close to her. “Don’t underestimate me and my will to have a family. I’ll have a family with or without you.”

Catherine pushed Nick out of her face. “Steve won’t let you, and neither will Danny; none of them will.”

“Danny won’t do anything,” Nick said, “because the man is clearly too pussy whipped to do anything in regards to his ex-wife jerking him around with custody of their daughter.”

Catherine snorted. “You keep on believing that.”

Just as Catherine was getting ready to leave, Danny burst into the room. “Nice to see you’re up and moving.”

“I was just getting ready to leave,” Catherine said.

“I hope you’re going back to Steve’s,” Danny said looking Catherine over, “because I’d hate to have to call the police because you kidnapped his daughter.”

“We aren’t completely sure she’s his daughter,” Nick interjected

“That may be so, but according to the papers that both Steve and Catherine signed in the presence of their lawyers, that baby,” Danny pointed to Catherine’s stomach, “is Steve’s child and if you so much as harm a hair on Catherine or do something that would harm the baby, you’ll never see the light of day.”

“Is that a threat?” Nick asked

“It’s a promise.” Danny said. “And to make sure you know I mean business, I’ve taken the liberty of contacting the lawyer, Rachel’s lawyer, who handled our custody arrangements. They’re already hard at work drafting up so many legal documents, it won’t matter who the father of Catherine’s baby is. By the time this is done, she’ll be an adult and will be able to make her own decisions.”

Nick was dumbfounded. Clearly he’d underestimated Danny.

Danny looked at Catherine. “I can take you to Steve’s if you’re ready.”

Catherine looked at Nick and then to Danny. “I’m ready.”

Danny picked up Catherine’s jacket and handed it to her. “Keep an ear on your cell phone because I’d say you have from 24 to 48 hours before your life is turned upside down again. You might want to talk to a lawyer.” Danny and Catherine walked out of the hospital room.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning Nick searched through the drawers of his hotel room for a phone book of some kind. Once he found it he flipped through to the legal aid section. ‘Family court…family lawyers…anything.’ he thought to himself. He pointed to one, Friendly Family Aid. ‘That’s the one.’ He picked up the phone and dialed the number. It rang three times before someone picked up.

“Friendly Family Aid, this is Tina, how may I help you?”

“I need some advice about an unborn child that might not be mine,” Nick said

“What exactly are your concerns?”

“My girlfriend, well, I guess she’s my ex-girlfriend now, signed some papers giving custody of her unborn daughter to her ex-boyfriend. There is some question as to the paternity of the baby.”

“Let me get this straight, your ex signed over rights to an unborn child that may or may not be yours?”

Nick sighed. “Yes and my ex’s ex have some high powered lawyer who, I’m afraid, is going to snowball me under legal documents and I won’t know if the baby is mine.”

“Sir, you can come in and we’ll try and help you the best we can,” Tina said, adding, “and it’s also best that you have a paternity test done before you sign anything.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” Nick hung up the phone, grabbed his jacket and walked out of his hotel room and the hotel to the parking structure to his rented car. He got in the car, pulled out the paper that he scribbled the address of the Friendly Family Aid building and put it in the car’s GPS. Within seconds, he had the directions and he was on his way.

Fifteen minutes later he was pulling into the parking lot and searching for a place to park. Once he found a place, he parked and walked to the building. The bell rang, alerting the person at the front desk that someone entered.

The lady looked up and smiled. “Welcome to Friendly Family Aid.”

“Umm, I called about twenty minutes ago needing some child custody advice.”

“Oh, Nick?” the lady asked, putting her hand out. “I’m Tina, we spoke on the phone.”

Nick walked to her and shook her hand. “I really hope you can help me out here.”

“Let’s go to the office and we’ll talk some more.” Tina said, standing up and leading the way to the back office.

\----

Steve was up at the crack of dawn. He made his way down from his room and stopped in the kitchen. He was surprised to see Rachel, Danny, Catherine and another woman sitting around the table looking over some papers.

“What’s going on?” he asked as he kissed the corner of Danny’s mouth and gave a nod to the others in the room.

Danny pointed to the woman sitting next to Rachel. “This is Lizanne Sawyer, the lawyer that I told you about.”

Steve looked at Rachel. “Thank you for helping.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Rachel said, “Liz might not be able to help.”

“I have to be honest with you, Commander McGarrett,” Liz began, “I don’t know if a judge will be able to legally enforce the papers your attorney and Catherine’s attorney drafted.”

“Please, call me Steve. Why won’t a judge be able to enforce them?” Steve asked.

“Well, there’s a possibility that this other man, Nick, could be the father, so until paternity is determined, this document isn’t a legally binding contract.”

The group stopped talking when Mary walked into the kitchen. “Don’t stop your discussion on account of me. I’m just getting some coffee.”

Steve went to the coffee maker, grabbed a cup and poured his sister some before handing it to her. “Thanks bro.” Mary smiled.

Danny’s phone rang and he answered it. “We get a case, Chin?” He paused and listened to what Chin was saying. “Steve and I will be there in thirty.” He ended the call.

“I guess work calls,” Steve said. He looked at Danny. “Give me ten and we can go.”

The others excused themselves and made plans to meet up later to further discuss what course of action they could take should Nick decide to get himself a lawyer.

\----

Tina and the other lawyers of the small family practice spent nearly an hour talking with Nick and eventually had the whole story, at least according to Nick, documented.

“I don’t want you to worry about any documents that Ms. Rollins may have signed with her ex. No judge would be able to enforce it until paternity is determined.”

“Okay,” Nick said with a nod. “How do I keep them from taking the baby before the paternity test is done?”

“It is possible to do pre-natal paternity testing, but that would only be allowed if Ms. Rollins’ doctor has the final say. The health of both mother and unborn child takes priority,” Tina said.

“There is another option,” another lawyer said. “You can try to convince Ms. Rollins to change her mind in regards to what she’s signed with her ex.”

“I know Catherine, she won’t do that.” Nick said shaking his head, “If she even thinks there’s a possibility that she has to raise the baby, she’ll freak and do something.”

“Something like what?” Tina asked

“I wouldn’t put anything past her.” Nick said, “I have to try and convince her to change her mind about things. Thank you for your help.”

“Let me give you our business card.” Tina pulled a card from the holder and handed it to Nick. “If anything comes up, call and we’ll help you as best we can.”

Nick took the card and smiled some. “Thank you…all of you…for your help.”

The other lawyers nodded their heads and went back to their offices and Tina walked Nick to the door.

Nick walked back to his car and headed to his hotel room. ‘I have to find a way to convince Catherine otherwise when it comes to the baby,’ he thought to himself as he drove down the street. A thought occurred to him and he made a u-turn and headed to see Catherine. When he got to a stoplight, he pulled his cell phone out and dialed Catherine’s number.

“I’m heading to see you. I want to take you away for the weekend so we can talk about all of this.” When the light turned green Nick gunned the engine and sped off in the direction of Steve’s house.

\------

While Catherine was up in her room, she noticed she had a message. She checked her voicemail and sighed when she heard Nick’s voice. ‘He wants to take me away for the weekend? Steve won’t let me…wait, I’m an adult, and I can do what I want.’ She called Nick back and told him she’d be packed and waiting.

Thirty minutes later there was a knock at the door. Mary went to the door and opened it. “Hel…what do you want?” she asked when she saw Nick

“To see my girlfriend.” Nick said, “Is she ready?”

“Hold on.” Mary closed the door, walked up the stairs and knocked on Catherine’s door, “Nick’s here.” Mary walked back down the stairs and into the living room.

Catherine waited a moment before opening the door, walking out and closing it behind her. She adjusted the overnight bag on her shoulder and quietly walked down the stairs. “I’ll be back later,” Catherine said before walking out of the house and closing the door.

“Ready?” Nick asked

“Yeah, and I don’t want to know where we’re going,” Catherine said. “Just take me away from here.” She walked towards his car and stood by the passenger side door waiting for him to unlock it.

“Is everything okay?” Nick asked when he got to the car.

“Things are just fine. I really enjoy getting chewed out by Danny, his ex, Mary and some bitch lawyer who doesn’t know me.” She opened the car door and got in.

Nick closed the door and walked to the driver side door, opened it and got in. He started the car and they were on their way, “What exactly happened?”

Catherine shook her head, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Nick sighed and continued driving. Soon after they were on the road, Catherine fell asleep and Nick was beginning to get tired himself. He pulled into the parking lot of the first motel he saw. He parked the car, went to the office and asked for a room with two beds. He paid in cash for two nights. He went to the room, unlocked the door and then went back to this car. He woke Catherine up and when she got out, though she wasn’t fully awake, he helped her to the room. He helped her into the bed and went back for her bags.

‘This’ll have to do for now,’ he thought to himself.

\----

It was well after midnight when Danny and Steve finished for the day and arrived back at the house. After they finished a case they’d been working on for nearly a month, they were called into a meeting with the Governor that lasted almost an hour. Once they finished there, they had drinks at Mel’s on the Beach and caught the end of the Knicks basketball game and the highlights of other games on ESPN. Before they knew it, four hours passed.

They quietly walked into the house not expecting anyone to be up. When they got to the living room, they saw Mary sitting in the chair next to the fireplace and watching the news.

“Mare, what are you doing up?” Steve asked as he pulled his jacket off and sat down.

“Couldn’t sleep after all the excitement from today,” she said, “Rachel and her lawyer friend came by again. They had some papers they wanted you to look at. I put them in your office.”

“Liz is a lovely woman, isn’t she?” Danny asked. “Nothing but the best for Rachel, that’s for sure.”

“They kind of laid it in good on Catherine,” Mary commented. She paused, “I kind of laid it in good on Catherine.”

Steve glanced up the stairs. “Is Catherine sleep?”

“She left out of here a while ago with Nick.”

“That’s why it’s so quiet,” Danny said

“Did she say when she’d be back?” Steve asked

“Worried about her?” Mary asked

“Not so much her, more so the baby.”

“It’s okay to worry about her, bro,” Mary said. “I’m going to bed.”

Steve glanced at Danny, who was dozing on the couch, “D, why don’t you go on to bed. I’m going to wait up to make sure Catherine comes back okay.”

Danny opened an eye and looked at Steve. “Are you sure you aren’t worried about her?” Steve gave him a look. “Really, it’s okay to be worried about her. She’s pregnant after all.”

Steve shrugged some and rubbed his hands over his face. “Something just feels…off.”

“Super-SEAL senses tingling?” Danny joked.

“I’m serious. Catherine’s been here for a while, and short of her time in the hospital, she’s never been out this late,” Steve said. “I’m just going to make sure she gets in okay.”

Danny reached for Steve’s arm and pulled him on to the couch. “Nick isn’t going to run off with Catherine. He knows that’s a sure fire way to have Five-0 hunt his ass down.”

Steve nodded. “I know, but still.”

“So come to bed with me,” Danny said. He rested his head on Steve’s shoulder and lightly ghosted his lips against the side of Steve’s neck.

“I will in a few hours,” Steve assured Danny. He moaned softly and tilted his head to give Danny better access to his neck. “You don’t have to wait up with me.”

Danny sighed and got up. “Oh well. Guess I won’t get to cuddle tonight.” He made his way to the stairs, “I don’t want to come down here in the morning when I get coffee and see you guys in the middle of heated throes of passion.”

Steve looked up, aghast at what Danny said. “Only in the Twilight Zone would that happen. Besides, you’re the only one for me now.”

“Stranger things have happened,” Danny said. “Remember when we saw Lori and Max out that one night…”

Steve laughed. “That was interesting to say the least.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Danny said with a laugh. He made his way up the stairs, “Don’t be up too late.”

“Night Danny.” Steve said. He grabbed the remote for the TV and put it on the History Channel.

\------

The next morning when Catherine woke up she wasn’t in her room. Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness of the room. She sat up in bed and felt for a light switch of some kind. When she couldn’t find one she sighed, threw her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. She shuffled her feet as she walked towards the small amount of light she could see that was coming in through a crack in the curtains around the window. She pulled the curtains open and shielded her eyes from the sun’s reflection off the pool.

Behind her, Nick groaned and pulled the covers over his head. “Turn the damn light off.”

“Kind of hard to shut the sun off,” Catherine said walking back to the bed. She sat down and adjusted her wrinkled top. “Where’s my bag?”

“In the bathroom,” Nick mumbled from under the blankets.

Catherine got up again, walked to the bathroom and closed the door. ‘What is this, the Bates Motel?’ she thought to herself as she looked at the meager amounts of towels that were left for them to use. She turned on the water, stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower.

Behind her there was a chair so she pulled it under the streaming water, sat down and let the water pelt her body. She stayed under the water until she felt the first droplets of cold water, the she stood up, reached for the small washcloth and bar of soap. She opened the soap, placed it on the cloth, let the water wet both, then washed her body and rinsed off. She turned off the water, grabbed the oversized towel and dried off.

As Catherine was getting dressed, Nick knocked on the door, “Other people do have to use the shower…” he said

Catherine finished getting dressed, yanked the door open and walked out. “All yours,” she said. Nick walked in and closed it behind himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Danny was still asleep when he heard someone running down the hall outside Steve’s room. He groaned and turned over. The running continued then stopped at the door. There was a soft knocking on the door and the soft voice of Mary. “Danny, are you awake?”

Danny pushed the covers off his body, got out of bed and groggily walked to the door to open it. “I’m not on bathroom duty yet.”

“She’s not here,” Mary said rapidly. “Her room is still the way it was yesterday.”

Danny was wide awake now. “Are you sure she didn’t come back?”

Mary nodded her head. “Steve was up all night and said she never came in the house. The alarm was still on.”

“Maybe she turned it on when she came home?” Danny asked as he grabbed a shirt and put it on.

“That’s what I tried telling him.” Mary moved from in front of the door and started towards Catherine’s room which was right next to the room Mary was using. “He’s convinced she didn’t.”

Danny followed Mary then opened Catherine’s door and walked in. The day before, Danny spent three hours cleaning it and he could tell everything was just as he left it. He walked to the closet and noticed the empty hangers. “All the laundry got done a couple days ago, right?” 

“They were done yesterday,” Mary said. “Grace and I brought them up before Rachel came by for her.”

Danny tapped the empty hangers then walked to the bed. “Who goes through three sets of clothes in less than twelve hours?”

Mary ran a hand through her hair and sighed. “I should have asked her where she was going when she left.”

“Even if she would have told you, would you have been able to believe her?” Danny asked. “I sure as hell wouldn’t have believed her.”

Danny and Mary walked out of the room, down the stairs and to the living room. Steve was hunched over the coffee table writing on a piece of paper and talking on the phone. Every so often, his voice would rise and then it would go back to its normal tone. They decided to leave him alone and let him finish his conversation before talking to him, and headed to the kitchen, sitting at the table. From there, they could only hear his end of the call, but could tell by how often Steve was apologizing that Kono wasn’t too pleased with the way he was talking to her.

“Look, I’m sorry for yelling, Kono, really I am,” Steve said. “No…I’m positive she didn’t come back. I would have heard her.” He sighed. “No, don’t call them. If she’s not back by tonight, then I give you full permission to do whatever you want,” he paused. “Yeah, I understand. I have my cell phone on too. Bye.” He hung up the phone and leaned back on the sofa. “You can come out of the kitchen now.” 

Danny was the first to walk into the living room. He sat on the sofa next to Steve. “Kono rip you a new one?”

Steve ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I don’t know if it was because I called so early or because I’ve been monopolizing a lot of time she could be spending with Charlie.”

“Probably both,” Danny said with a nod of his head. “She’s like any other person, Steve. She’s sticking her neck out to help you and when things temporarily go south, you can’t snap at her.”

Steve sighed. “I know, really I do. And, uh, that’s what Chin told me.”

“You should listen to the man.” Mary walked into the living room carrying a tray with three coffee cups. She set the tray on the coffee table and sat on a chair next to the sofa. “So, what are we going to do now?”

“I’m going to Nick’s hotel and see if they’re there,” Steve said, leaning over and picking up a cup and taking a sip. “Then just drive around town to see if I can spot them.”

“That last part may be a total waste of time,” Danny said softly. “But we can do something in the mean time.”

“What’s that?” Steve asked

“I have a friend that works the airport car rental circuit,” he said. “If he hasn’t turned in his car, then they’ll know about it.”

Steve stood up, grabbed his jacket from the back of the sofa and put it on. “And while you do that, Danno, I’m going to drive around town.”

Danny nodded his head. “I’ll have to go back to my house for a bit, so you can either call me there or on my cell.”

“You’ll be here, right, Mare?” Steve asked her.

“I don’t have any place else to go,” she said. “At least not for another two months.”

“Thanks...for everything,” Steve said. He gave Mary a hug.

Mary shrugged her shoulders, stood up and took the tray back to the kitchen. “Don’t be out too long now.”

“Kono is going to be dealing with Duke over at HPD and she’s also been in contact with my lawyer. If they call here, give them her number.”

Danny and Mary agreed and watched as Steve walked out of the house. 

“He’s handling this really well,” Danny said

“I would give anything to know what Kono said to Steve and for her to teach that to me.” Mary said with a laugh

Danny drank the last of the coffee in his cup and stood up. “Kono is one tough woman and doesn’t take crap from anybody. I know that first hand,” he took the cup to the kitchen, walked back to the living room and to the stairs. “I need to get dressed and back to my place.”

“Don’t worry; I still have all the numbers next to the phone.” Mary said walking to the kitchen.

\------

When Nick got out of the shower and bathroom, he walked into the room and saw Catherine sitting on the bed watching TV. “What do you want to eat?”

“Lots of fruit and a bran muffin,” Catherine requested.

“Would you settle for McDonalds?” Nick asked as he grabbed his wallet and looked through it.

Catherine sighed. “Whatever.”

“Look, I’m doing this for us.” Nick said, looking at Catherine, “You want to leave, fine, then leave.”

“So what, you don’t want to talk things over now?” she asked as she flipped through the channels.

Nick grinded his teeth together. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Catherine asked still flipping through the channels

Nick walked over to her, grabbed the remote and dropped it on the floor. “I’ll be back in 30 minutes.” He walked to the door, opened it and walked out. 

Catherine got up and closed the door before going back to where she was, she picked up the remote and turned to a movie that was on.

Once Nick walked out of the motel, he went to the front desk and asked the day manager where the closest McDonalds restaurant was.

“Three miles north on the highway.” the manager said, “It’s the truck stop McDonalds.” 

Nick nodded his head and left.

\----

Steve pulled into the parking lot of the hotel that Nick was staying in. He parked his car, got out and walked into the lobby. There were very few people lingering about so Steve was able to make his way to the front desk without being spotted by anyone.

The clerk behind the counter looked up and gave a soft smile when Steve approached. “Welcome to the Marriott. How may I help you?”

“A friend of mine is staying here and I was wondering if he’s checked out yet.” He quickly added, “I tried calling his room, but there was no answer.”

“What room is your friend in?” the clerk asked

Steve thought a moment, “Room 632.”

She typed something on the keyboard and looked at Steve. “Your friend hasn’t checked out yet, and he has the room until the day after tomorrow. Would you like to leave a message, should he come back?”

“Yes. Tell him that it’s very important that he contact either Danny or Steve,” Steve said. “He has both of our numbers.”

The clerk smiled and wrote down the message. “I’ll be sure and give it to him as soon as he comes back. Is there anything else?”

“No there isn’t. Thank you.” Steve said before turning and walking back out of the hotel and to his car.

Steve got in his car, started it up and headed towards the beach. He thought about the last time Catherine was in town and how she always went to this small café that overlooked the beach. He headed down the main highway when his cell phone went off. Pulling into a gas station, he fished it out of his pocket and looked at the number. Steve took a deep breath, clicked it on and spoke. “Have you found out anything, Kono?”

“I know you didn’t want me to get HPD involved, but I called in a favor and he used his credit card about 30 minutes ago.”

“Where?” Steve asked

“Up the interstate at a McDonalds.” She said. “I can be there in 15 minutes…”

Steve’s brow creased. “Where are you?”

“Visiting a friend.” She said, “He’s 15 minutes from the McDonalds and says that it’s a truck stop.”

Steve sighed, “You’re closer than I am. You have a picture of Nick and Catherine?”

“No, but I can get one. Why?”

“Get one, take it there,” Steve said. “I need to call my lawyer.”

\----

Once Danny got dressed, he left Steve’s house and headed back to his own. It had been close to two weeks since he was last there. While he didn’t have a lot of bills, there were a lot of sales papers to sort through. Normally he’d check the coupons, but he didn’t have the time to, so he tossed them all in the recycle bin. He put the bills in a stack to take with him back to Steve’s, pulled out a few postcards from his buddies back in New Jersey and a couple of letters from his parents.

Danny went to his room and looked through his little black book for the number of an old boyfriend who worked at car rental shops. He found his number and called him.

“Ryan, it’s Danny,” he said once he picked up the phone.

“Danny, I was just thinking about you.” Ryan said. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good. I’m helping a friend of mine get his place ready for his new daughter.”

“Ohh, sounds like fun.” he said, “Have you talked to any of the old gang?”

Danny sighed, “Not in a year.” He paused and added, “Ever since I came out to them, they’ve treated me…differently.”

“I know the feeling.” Ryan said, “You’re the only one who still calls me since I’ve…you know, come out of the closet too.”

“I always had a feeling.” Danny said, “I’d love to catch up with you more, but I’m kind of on a time crunch and I need to ask a favor of you.”

“Depends on what it is.…” 

“I need you to look up something on the rental database.”

“I don’t know.” Ryan was hesitant. “I could be fired if my boss found out.”

“This is very important. Tell them that it’s police business and give them my name and number if they have any other questions,” Danny pleaded. “This is sort of a matter of life and death.”

Ryan’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Is everything okay?”

“Kind of.” Danny said, “Without going into all the details, an unborn baby and her mother are missing.”

“I see…” was all that Ryan could say. “Have you called the police…oops, I forgot who I’m talking to. You are the police.” Ryan laughed. “I’ll help you the best I can.”

“All I need you to do is find out the kind of car a Nick Taylor checked out earlier this week. He’s from California and will more than likely be returning the car tomorrow or the day after.”

Ryan typed the information into the computer and came up with two matches. “I have good news and bad news, Danny.” He heard Danny sigh, “There are two people by the name of Nick Taylor and both are set to return their car the day after tomorrow.”   
Danny sighed again, “Would it be too much to ask if you gave me the license plate numbers of those cars?”

“Not at all.” Ryan said, “You have a pen and paper?”

Danny grabbed the pad of paper and pen from off the night stand. “Okay, ready.” Ryan gave him the plate numbers, “Thank you so much.”

“No problem.” Ryan said, “What are you doing this weekend?”

“I’m pretty busy…why?”

“You think you could make some time for lunch with an old friend?” Ryan asked

Danny laughed. “I’m sure that could be arranged,” he said. “You still have my cell number, right?”

“Yeah.” Ryan said, “I’ll call you around eleven.”

“That’s fine with me,” he said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

They both hung up their phones and Danny pulled the paper off the pad, putting it in his pocket. He walked out of his room, grabbed the stack of mail he set aside. He set the alarm on the house then closed and locked it up behind him.

\----

Kono called Mary and asked her to look through the photo albums for pictures of Nick and Catherine and then to scan and email them to her. Thirty minutes later the email came. Kono was pleased with the pictures Mary chose. They were clear shots of both Nick and Catherine from some barbeque Steve had a few years back.

Kono quickly made a couple of photo arrays, printed them out and was on her way to the McDonald’s, hoping she got there before Nick left.

When she got to the McDonald’s she showed the male photo array to the manager. The manager pointed to the picture of Nick and said that she just missed him. The manager called the employee who was working the cash register when Nick came in and told her that Nick seemed to be agitated or nervous. He was also being snappy. Kono asked him if he saw which way Nick went.

“Up the interstate towards all those motels,” the man said. “He didn’t even bother for his change when he got cash back.”

Kono thanked them and left. Before she got on the interstate she asked a few drivers if they saw him, a couple of them said they did. She thanked them and headed in the direction that she was given.


	8. Chapter 8

Thirty minutes after talking to his lawyer, Steve was pulling into the parking lot of the man’s office. He parked his car, got out and walked into the building. He knocked on Robert Jamison’s door. Robert got up from his chair, walked to the door and opened it. “Steve, I didn’t think you’d be in so soon.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair. “I needed to do something about Catherine being missing. I have my team out searching for her, and the other lawyer I told you about.…”

“Oh yes. I know all about Lizanne Sawyer. She’s great at what she does,” Robert said. He moved to the side for Steve to walk in. “In fact, she called me right after I got done speaking with you. She’s supposed to come by later today.”

Steve entered the office and sat in the chair in front of the desk and Robert walked around and sat in his chair.

“She’s drafting up some other papers in case Catherine or Nick try to run off before the DNA test is done,” Steve said.

“That’s good,” Robert agreed. “That’s probably why she asked to speak with me. I don’t know what kind of lawyer Catherine has, but he wasn’t very smart in allowing Catherine to sign over rights.”

“Catherine was telling everyone I was the father. She was the only one who knew she was in a relationship with me and Nick.” Steve said. “So according to the papers that Catherine signed, that’s my baby.”

“Technically, that’s true, but if Nick’s smart, he’s gotten a lawyer and the papers that Catherine and you signed aren’t any good.”

Steve was shocked. “Aren’t any good? What am I supposed to do for the next two months? Pretend that none of this ever happened?”

“I’ll pretend that wasn’t a rhetorical question,” Robert said, “and say that you better hope that she has some moment of clarity and decides to put the baby first and not her selfish needs.”

“So you’re saying that she was selfish in coming back and signing the baby over to me?”

“In a way, yes,” Robert said leaning back in his chair. “She didn’t bother to think about what Nick would say in all this, or what she would tell him should he ask what happened to the baby.”

Steve slumped in his chair, “I completely forgot about that.”

“You should start thinking about that.” Robert said, “I also spoke with Kono and she said you don’t want to involve HPD and I think you’re making a terrible mistake. Involve the right people and this can be taken care of sooner rather than later.”

“My team is handling it,” Steve said. “They **are** the right people and I trust them to be discreet, and I don’t see a need to involve HPD.”

“You should know that with or without your approval, Lizanne and I will probably file this with the courts today. It’s better to have something on record now, than to have to scramble at a later date.”

Steve nodded his head and stood up. “I understand.” He left the office and walked to his car to head back to his house.

\----

Nick arrived back at the motel 30 minutes later. When he walked into the room, he saw Catherine sitting on the bed eating a bowl of fruit. "Where did you get that?" he asked

“I went to the front office and there was food there so I helped myself to some.”

“I told you I was getting you something!” Nick yelled

“Well, hell! That was two hours ago!” Catherine said, “When I want food, I want it now, not when you damn well feel like it!”

“Two hours?! I wasn’t gone for two hours! I was gone 30 minutes at the most! You couldn’t wait a lousy 30 minutes?!”

“You try telling that to the baby in my body!” Catherine yelled, “For someone who is so hell bent on having a family you move like a damn sloth!”

“Speaking of….” Nick said, “We need to talk about that.”

“I gathered as much when you called me last night.” Catherine said, “So talk.”

“I’m not going to beat around the bush; you need to call Steve and tell him you’ve changed your mind and you don’t want him to have custody of the baby.”

Catherine shook her head, “Ain’t gonna happen.”

“Why the hell not?! There’s a chance that baby is mine and I don’t want her with him.”

“It’s my choice and I choose for her to go to him.”

“You can’t do that.” Nick said. “No judge would ever go along with whatever papers you signed, especially not when they find out that you lied.”

Nick looked Catherine square in the eyes and pitched his voice low, “Call Steve and tell him you changed your mind. Tell him you used protection and the baby isn’t his.” Catherine shook her head. Nick grabbed the phone off the bed and thrust it against Catherine’s chest. “Do it, or you’ll be sorry.”

A chill went down Catherine’s back but she refused to make the call. “No. I won’t do it!”

“I told you, you aren’t going to stop me from having a family.”

“You’d keep a baby even if it didn’t belong to you?”

“You said it yourself; you don’t know who her father is.”

“Well, I lied.” Catherine said, “I know damn well who this baby’s father is and it isn’t you.”

If Nick was shocked by what Catherine said, he didn’t show it. “When did this moment of clarity happen to come about? While I was out getting food for you?”

“You could say that.” Catherine said with a nod of her head, “But I guess, talking with Robert Jameson and Lizanne Sawyer helped me to see things differently.”

In an instant, rage flashed through Nick and he slapped Catherine across the face, she fell back onto the bed and the headboard bumped up against the wall, “Why the hell did you do that?!”

Catherine looked up at Nick with shock on her face, “That’s why I called him.” She stared at him, shaking her head. “You swore you’d never lay a hand on me again. You said that while I was carrying your child, you wouldn’t beat me.”

With the raising of the voices and the headboard bumping against the wall, the people in the next room became concerned and went to the front office. The day manager went to the room and knocked on the door, “Ms. Rollins is everything okay?”  
“You told them your name?!” Nick yelled, “You want Steve to find out that we’re here?!”

“I could care less if Steve finds out!” Catherine yelled back. “If Steve finding out keeps you from having this baby, then let me be the first to call him!”

Catherine reached for the room phone sitting on the middle nightstand. Nick lunged for it as she was grabbing it and he pushed her away. Catherine bounced back on the bed and teetered on the edge of the bed before falling to the floor with a thud. 

By this time, the manager had gone back to the front office and was on the phone with the police.


	9. Chapter 9

Danny and Steve arrived at the house at the same time and greeted each other with a hug and walked into the house together. They went to the living room where Mary was sitting and talking on the phone. They waited for her to finish before they talked about the information they got.

Mary finished her call and smiled at the two. “How did things go?” she asked

“Okay, I guess.” Danny said, “I called my friend and he gave me the information I asked for. What are the chances there would be two Nick Taylor’s from California with cars checked out that are due on the same day?”

“That is something,” Steve agreed. “How’d you find that out?”

“Called in a favor with a guy I used to date,” Danny said with a shrug of his shoulders. Steve raised an eyebrow in question and Danny rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry babe, he’s taken.”

Steve hoped the heat he felt creeping up his neck and cheeks wasn’t noticeable. “Well, that sounds like something Kono should pass on to HPD.”

Danny smirked. “One step ahead of you babe; called them myself with a description of Nick and Catherine and gave the two plate numbers.”

\------

The instant that Catherine hit the floor she grabbed her stomach and cried out in pain. Nick stood for a second and looked at her, before he realized what he did. He went to her and tried to help her, but before he could get to her, there was a knock at the door.

“Police, is everything okay?”

Nick rushed to the door and pulled it open. “Everything’s fine, officer.”

The officer strained to look into the room, but Nick blocked him. “The manager called in about an argument,” he said, “Is there anyone else in the room with you?”

“Just my girlfriend,” Nick shrugged. “Why?”

“Can we speak with her?” another officer asked

“She’s resting right now.”

“If it’s all the same, we’d still like to see her for ourselves.”

Nick looked back into the room, sighed and moved to the side. The officers walked in and saw Catherine leaning against the bed still holding her stomach.

“Sir, turn around and put your hands behind your back,” the first officer said as his partner went to Catherine.

“What? Why?” Nick moved away.

“For our protection.” The officer reached for Nick’s arm and placed it behind his back. One cuff was placed on his wrist and the other arm was pulled back and placed in the other cuff. Nick was then walked to a chair and sat down.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” the other officer asked when he got to Catherine. 

Catherine couldn’t speak, she simply shook her head.

“How far along is your girlfriend?” the officer with Catherine asked Nick

“I’m…not his girlfriend.” Catherine said as she struggled to get up, “and I’m seven months pregnant.”

The officer helped her up so that she was sitting on the bed. He instantly noticed the bruise forming on her cheek and motioned for the other officer. That officer walked over to Catherine and looked at her cheek.

“Ma’am, what happened?”

Catherine sighed. “Nick’s upset because I won’t change my mind about giving up custody of my baby.”

“Because I could be the father!” Nick shouted.

“I told you that you aren’t!” Catherine yelled standing up. Then she grabbed her stomach again and sat down. “Steve is her father.”

“Miss, please stay seated.” the officer said. He whispered to the other officer to call for an ambulance. The other officer nodded his head and walked out of the room to send for an ambulance.

“How did you get this bruise on your cheek?”

“I went to call a friend….” she paused. “No, that was how I ended up on the floor. I told Nick that I spoke with my daughter’s father’s lawyer and he became enraged and slapped me.”

A couple of minutes later the ambulance arrived and Catherine was helped into the back. Nick was taken to the police station where he was placed in a holding cell.

The Captain was making his rounds when he noticed Nick sitting in the cell. One of the officers at the desk nearby noticed the Captain staring into the cell. “Everything okay, Cap?”

“The man in the white shirt…what’s his name?”

The officer looked at his papers. “His name is Nick Taylor. Why?”

The Captain turned and looked at the officer. “And the woman who was with him?”

The officer’s brow wrinkled. “Sir, how did you know?”

The Captain shook his head, already moving to his office. “Never mind that; where is she?”

The officer looked at his clipboard. “She’s at Queen's Medical Center.”

The Captain rushed to his office, closed the door, picked up the phone and dialed a number.

\----

Later on that night, Steve received a phone call from a number he didn’t recognize. He debated on whether he should answer it or not, but something was telling him that it was important.

Before he could answer the phone, someone else picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“This is Captain Akimu with HPD, and I need to speak with Commander McGarrett,” the man said.

Mary wrinkled her brow and looked at Steve. “There’s a Captain Akimu with HPD on the phone for you.”

Steve grabbed the cordless phone on the base next to him and answered the call. “Captain.…?”

“Good, you’re still home,” Captain Akimu said. “I know you wanted things kept close to the vest, but I thought you should know that the two people you’re looking for have been found. Nick Taylor is in a holding cell and Catherine Rollins is at the hospital.”

Steve’s heart began to beat faster. “Is she okay?” he asked

“I don’t know. I just saw Taylor in the cell and asked the officer on duty about Catherine and he didn’t know.”

“What’s Nick in for?”

“I didn’t bother to ask,” he said. “I knew you’d want to know about Catherine.”

“What hospital was she taken to?”

“She’s at Queen’s Medical. Do you want us to process this guy?”

“No, let him sit there.” Steve hung up the phone and looked at Mary and Danny. “Catherine’s been found and Nick is in jail.” He grabbed his jacket and keys. “Kono and Chin are still out looking for them. I have to get to the hospital.”

Danny and Mary didn’t ask any questions. They grabbed their jackets and followed Steve out the door and got into his truck. The 45 minute drive to the hospital was a quiet one. Danny spoke softly on his cell phone and when he was finished, Steve glanced at him. “Thanks for letting them know.” 

Danny smiled, stretched his arm and rested his hand on Steve’s thigh and gave it a squeeze.

Steve simply smiled as he pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. They got out and walked into the hospital. Steve went to the main desk and asked what room Catherine was in. Once he had the information, he headed towards the room. He lightly knocked on the door and waited for it to be opened. “I’m sorry sir visiting hours are over.”

“That woman is carrying my child, I need to see her,” Steve said calmly

The nurse looked at Catherine who nodded her head and she moved to the side allowing him to walk in, then she walked out, closing the door behind her. Steve walked to the bed and sat in the chair by the bed.

“What happened?”

“Nick,” she said

“How….?” He asked, lightly touching her stomach.

“I told him he talked to Robert and he got mad, then I told him that the baby wasn’t his and that I was going to call and tell you where I was,” Catherine said softly. She glanced down at his hand on her stomach, sighed and looked at back him. “He got even more angry, hit me and then I fell off the side of the bed.”

“This wasn’t the first time was it?” Steve asked. Catherine shook her head no. “I’m sorry.”

For the first time in months Steve felt bad for Catherine and she could tell. “I’ve changed my mind about all this,” she said. “I want to keep her and move away so that Nick can’t get her.”

“But you can’t.”

“Yes I can.” Catherine remained firm. “I lied to you when I signed those papers. Maybe one day I’ll want to know who her father is, but for now, this is too much. I don’t want to put anyone else through any more problems.”

“Catherine, you didn’t hear me.” Steve stood. “You can’t leave with my daughter. You won’t get off this Island.”

“I don’t care.” Catherine said, “I can change my mind about giving her up before she’s born and up to three days after she’s born. And according to the doctors here, I’m still pregnant so I can change my mind and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Steve stared at her blankly. “Said so in the papers I signed…Robert reminded me of that when I talked to him.”

Steve turned and walked out of the room. He pulled Danny off to the side. “Call Lizanne for me. Tell her and Robert to meet me here **NOW**!” He walked off not saying anything else.

\----

Lizanne Sawyer and Robert Jamison arrived at the police station and were greeted by the Police Captain. “Captain, this is Robert Jamison, he’s Steve’s lawyer.”

The Captain and Robert shook hands before heading to the interrogation room where Nick was.

Nick looked up and sighed. “So everyone has a lawyer but me, I see.”

“No one is pressing charges…” Robert said sitting down, “…yet.”

“Look, Robert, don’t bullshit me.” Nick said, “I know why you’re here, but why is she here?” he pointed to Lizanne.

Lizanne sat down and looked at Nick, “I’ve been asked to represent the unborn baby and if anything happens to the baby, I’m the one you have to deal with.”

“Well, why isn’t Mr. Coleson here?” Nick asked, “He’s Catherine’s lawyer.”

“She can handle her own,” Lizanne said, “I’m dealing with you now.”

“You know those papers Catherine signed won’t be enforced,” Nick said

“We’re way beyond that now,” Robert added. “We’re to the court part of things so you better hope you have a good lawyer.”

“Well, you should know that Catherine lied.”

“We gathered as much,” Lizanne said, “but that doesn’t change the facts now.”

“Catherine can’t give that baby to him if he isn’t her father!” Nick shouted

“You know, Nick,” Lizanne said slowly and softly, “Catherine’s only seven months pregnant.…”

Nick stared at her blankly. “Yeah…I know.”

“She fell off the edge of the bed and on to her stomach.”

“You don’t have to remind me, I was there.” Nick huffed.

“Paramedics think that caused her to go into labor early.”

“Babies born two months early have weak lungs and hearts,” the Captain said from his window sill perch. “I should know; I lost twins that way.”

“Are you grasping what we’re getting at?” Lizanne asked. Her cell phone rang; she stood, pulled it out of her pocket and walked out of the room. “Yeah?”

“It’s Danny. Steve wants you and Robert here ASAP.”

“We’ll be right there.” Lizanne said. She pressed end on her phone and walked back into the room, “Robert and I have to go. We’re needed at the hospital.”

Nick looked up, his eyes wide with a mixture of fear, “Is Catherine okay?”

Lizanne shrugged her shoulders and spoke to the Captain. “See that he gets a good lawyer.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this seems a bit off. I was literally adding to it right before posting

The Captain nodded his head and watched as Lizanne and Robert walked out of the room. “Looks like its back to the cell for you,” he said. “You’ll get your phone call in an hour.” Nick stood up and headed to the door with the Captain right behind him. 

Ten minutes after Lizanne and Robert left the police station, they pulled into the hospital’s parking lot. She parked the car, they got out and walked into the hospital and were greeted by Steve.

“We need to talk.” Steve turned and walked in the direction of the empty cafeteria. He pulled out a chair and looked at Lizanne and Robert who did the same – sitting across from him. “Catherine tells me you told her she could change her mind about give up her baby.”

“I didn’t tell her that.” Robert said. “I reminded her of what was in the papers she signed.”

“Same difference.” Steve wasn’t happy and it showed. “She’s changed her mind and wants to keep the baby.”

“And she can do that.”

Steve looked at Lizanne. “Sorry, Steve, she can,” Lizanne told him. “With everything that’s come out, no judge would ever up hold anything that she signed. But, in that same token, Nick wouldn’t be given custody of the baby either.”

“So either way, I’m out of the loop?” Steve asked

“When the baby is born, you’ll get a paternity test,” Robert said. “There’s no waiting and it’s done before Catherine is given the chance to see the baby.”

“But don’t worry about that right now. He’s in jail, and won’t be out for at least 24 hours,” Lizanne said.

Steve shot her a look. “How’d you know that?”

“I heard he was in jail, and Robert and I went to have a little talk with him,” Lizanne stated. “He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.”

Steve looked at Robert. “Don’t you think that’s a conflict of interest to represent him and me?”

“Steve, I’m not representing him. I gave him no legal advice,’ Robert said. “Going there was just to…scare him.” Lizanne nodded her head in agreement

“SEALs don’t scare easily,” Steve stated flatly.

The door to the cafeteria opened and Steve turned towards the sound. The nurse standing in the entrance motioned for him to join her and Steve stood up and walked into the hall with her. “Is everything okay?”

Lizanne and Robert looked up as Steve stood up and walked to the nurse. “But they can have the ground ripped from under them…,” Lizanne mumbled to Robert as they watched the nurse speak with Steve.

“The baby is under distress,” the nurse explained. “The heart beat is slowing. Ms. Rollins is asking for you.”

Steve nodded his head and followed the nurse to Catherine’s room. “What do the doctors want to do?”

“She won’t let them touch her until she’s talked to you.”

They got to the room and Steve walked to Catherine. “I’m here, Catherine.”

“I’m…I’m sorry for doing this.” Catherine had tears in her eyes and she shifted a bit in an attempt to get comfortable. “I never wanted to hurt you.”

Steve reached her Catherine’s hand and lightly gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay,” he managed to say around the lump forming in his throat.

“No it’s not okay. I’m taking your daughter away from you,” Catherine said. “I’ve known you were the father all along. But I freaked out and that’s why I left seven months ago.”

“My God Catherine, you gotta stop jerkin’ me around,” Steve said as he sat in a chair near her bed. ”What about what Nick said? He said that you guys had been having sex for eight months.”

“True enough, I’ve been cheating on you for the majority of our relationship, but I was on the pill and I never told Nick.” She looked at Steve, hoping he would see she was telling the truth. “I knew he wanted a family so badly, but after that joint-op you and he had, he changed and was so abusive and then he’d apologize and I so wanted to believe him. Then I caught him using drugs.” She paused again, letting her words sink in. “I tried to leave him. Got as far as the base in San Diego, but I was in between tours, and there was no need for me to be on base.”

“Why didn’t you come back here?” Steve asked; his eyes were sad as he listened to her story. “We were still together and you know that you were always welcome at my house.”

Catherine shook her head. “He would have found out if I got on a plane, so I went back to the house and we talked things over and I was stupid enough to believe him. For two years I believed his lies that he would stop using drugs, that he would stop hitting me, stop yelling at me. After a while it sunk in that he would never change, but he got in my head so much that no one would want me after him, that he wouldn’t **let** anyone have me.” The disgust in how she had been treated was evident in her voice. “I couldn’t put a child through that.” Now she began to speak softly. “He used a condom every time we had sex. One weekend I flew from California to see you; I left my pills, but didn’t think anything of it. We made love, I left two days later.”

Robert and Lizanne slipped in the room and listened to the conversation.

“Three weeks later when my period should have come, it didn’t. I took one of those home pregnancy tests and it came back negative. I waited a couple more weeks and still nothing. So I went to my doctor, they gave me a test and told me I was about eight weeks along.”

“The baby could still be Nick’s,” Lizanne said as she stepped further into the room. “A paternity test is going to be done when she’s born.”

“Aren’t you listening to me?!” Catherine demanded. “Steve is the father!”

“Well, there a man in jail who, for the last six months, has thought otherwise,” Robert added.

“Would it make any difference if I just let Steve have her?”

“Yeah,” Steve said in agreement. “After she’s born, she can come home with me and that’s the end of it.”

Lizanne looked at Steve. “As much as I would like to say yes, it can’t be done. Nick is going to fight this to the very end.”

“I don’t care about that.” Catherine was adamant. “I don’t want Nick to have her!”

“Why are you fighting this paternity thing? You get it done; it says Steve is her father and what you do after that is between you and Steve. If you don’t take the test you both may lose her,” Lizanne said. “The test takes but five minutes and done right after she’s born.”

There was a series of beeping noises and a nurse and doctor walked into the room. “Okay, everyone out.” 

Robert left the room, but Lizanne hung around for a little bit longer.

“Is everything okay?” Steve asked nervously

The nurse in front of the baby monitor held up the printout and motioned for Steve to come to her. Steve walked over and looked at the paper. “You see this?” she pointed to the lines on the paper, “This is the baby’s heartbeat, notice how its spikes are low?” Steve nodded his head, “Heartbeat slowing isn’t good, the baby has to come out before it dips any lower.”

“What happens if it dips lower?” Catherine asked

“It’ll be too late.” Lizanne said. Steve and Catherine looked at Lizanne as she walked out of the room.

“Can I stay?” Steve asked. The doctor looked up from his position in front of Catherine and nodded his head.

The nurse at the monitor walked to a cabinet, pulled out blue scrubs and handed them to Steve. “Put these on.”

Steve went to the bathroom, put the scrubs on, then left the bathroom and walked to the fetal monitor and the printout that was slowly coming from the machine. The nurse quickly unhooked the machine from Catherine’s stomach, pushed the cart aside and walked out of the room. 

A few minutes later another doctor entered and began to prep Catherine.

Steve panicked a bit when he saw the large needle.

“Don’t worry, Commander; this is for the epidural. We can’t deliver the baby unless she’s numb.” 

Steve sat with her, doing his best to keep both himself and Catherine calm.

The nurse returned to the room sometime later and checked on Catherine, and once the doctor who would be performing the surgery okayed things, the nurse called two orderlies and they wheeled Catherine to the delivery room.

\----

In the interim, Lizanne walked to the waiting room where Danny, Mary and Robert were waiting. She sat in a chair and stared at her lap while she processed everything. The group had seen Catherine being wheeled away and Steve following them in the blue scrubs.

Mary got up, walked over to Lizanne and sat next to her. “What happened?”

“Catherine’s changed her mind. She wants to keep the baby even though she knows that Steve is her father.”

“Can she do that?” Mary asked softly

Lizanne nodded her head. “Even though the papers she signed can’t be enforced by a judge, she has the right to change her mind. Nick is going to fight this. It’s better to have the paternity test done so we know with complete certainty if Nick or Steve is the father.”

“What are we going to do now?” Danny asked

“They’re going to deliver the baby and a test is going to be done.” 

\----

An hour later Steve was standing next to the nurse as she cleaned up the baby. “So far she looks healthy, Mr. McGarrett,” the nurse said with a smile. She attached some tubes to her nose to help her breathe. “Her lungs and heart are still weak, so she’ll be watched closely.”

“But other than that she’s fine?” he asked as he lightly touched her fingers.

“She could stand to gain a little more weight, but she’s still fine,” the nurse replied. “The doctor will watch her closely.”

“What about the paternity test?” Steve asked

“Will be done in a couple minutes,” she said. “We’ll have the results within five days.” She placed the baby in the bassinette and wheeled her over to Catherine. “You can see your little girl before she’s taken to the neo-natal unit.”

Catherine sat up as best she could and looked at the baby. Her eyes welled up with tears. “She’s so tiny.”

“But she’s fine,” the nurse said with a smile. “We’re just going to monitor her to make sure her heart and lungs are okay.”

“How bad are they?” Catherine asked.

“They’re a bit weak due to the early delivery, but with time they will get stronger,” the nurse said as she turned and wheeled the baby out of the delivery room.

\----

Nick sat in the cell that he was placed in, looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. ‘An hour and a half,’ he thought to himself. ‘When do I get my call…who would I call?’

The officer at the desk, stood up, walked to the cell, unlocked it and looked at Nick. “You can make your call now.”

Nick stood up, walked to the payphone, took the few coins left for him and thought a moment. Once he decided who he would call, he deposited the coins and dialed his parents’ number. The phone rang three times before the call was connected and a soft-spoken woman spoke. “Hello?”

“Mom, it’s Nick…” he said

“Nick dear, what a surprise,” she said. “How are things going?”

Nick sighed and shook his head as if his mother could see. “Not so good, Mom, but I don’t have time to explain. I need to you make an emergency call to Justin Ambrose and have him get to Oahu as soon as he can.”

“Okay,” his mother said, “but he’s going to want to know why.”

“Tell him it’s an emergency and I’ll explain when he gets here,” Nick said.

“Where exactly is here?”

“Police station near Queens Medical,” Nick said. “He knows the place.”

“All right, I’ll call him now,” his mother said. “It might be morning before he’s able to get a flight from the Big Island.”

“That’s not soon enough, but it looks like I have no other choice,” Nick said. “I have to go. I’ll call you soon and explain everything.” He hung up the phone before his mother had a chance to respond.

The officer looked at Nick, “Done?” Nick nodded his head, “Okay, time for a little ride.”

“To where?”

“Queens,” the officer said walking to Nick. “Turn around, hands behind your back.”

Nick did as he was told. “Look, is all this necessary?”

The officer didn’t respond as he placed the cuffs on Nick’s wrists. “They’ll be off in 10 minutes.”

“Then back on again,” Nick said with a sigh. He followed the officer out of the station and in to the car. They drove 10 minutes to the hospital and walked in through a side entrance to avoid any patients that were in the waiting rooms. They walked down a hall to a lab where a nurse was sitting at a counter.

The nurse wheeled to the side and exposed Steve who was sitting on a chair with his arm resting on a table. Steve looked up when Nick and the officer walked into the room. Nick was about to say something when Steve put his jacket on and walked out of the lab leaving Nick, the officer and the nurse alone.

“Mr. Taylor?” She asked as she looked up from her clipboard. “Which of you is Nick Taylor?”

“I am.” Nick said stepping forward. The officer undid the cuffs and Nick shook his arms out.

“Have a seat in the chair and roll both of your sleeves up above the elbow.” Nick did as he was instructed and the nurse took her seat in front of him. She went to wipe off his arm with an alcohol pad and noticed the track marks. “When was the last time you used?” she asked. “And don’t try to lie to me.”

“Last week,” He said.

“How long have you been using?”

“About two years.”

“Drug of choice?” she asked

“Crack,” He said plainly

She gave him a look, and then wrote something down on her clipboard before she began to draw a tube of blood. When she finished that she capped the tube, placed it to the side and collected another one. While it was filling up, she pulled an unopened swab out, took it out of the package and held it at Nick’s mouth. “Open.” Nick opened his mouth, she swabbed the side of his cheek and placed a cap on that. She stood up and collected her materials. “Results will be back in about five days,” she said before walking away.

The officer nodded his head and motioned for Nick to come back to him. Nick stood up, walked over to the officer and stood in front of him. “Can I see Catherine?” he asked. The officer shook his head, placed the cuffs back on Nick and they walked out of the hospital.


	11. Chapter 11

Steve walked back to the waiting room where the group was waiting for him. The first person he saw was Danny and he made his way towards him. 

Danny stood up and met Steve halfway. “How did it go?”

Steve shrugged his shoulders. “It went okay. They took four tubes of blood. Then Nick came in.” Steve’s lip twitched in an almost snarl when he said the name.

Danny led him to a chair away from the rest of the group and they sat down. “So what did they do?”

“Swabbed the inside of my cheek,” he said. “I now know the meaning of cotton mouth.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Don’t even get me started on cotton mouth.”

This time Steve laughed and when he stopped he glanced out the waiting room and into Catherine’s room. “Have they said anything about Catherine or the baby?”

“Catherine’s back in a room. Her lawyer came and her parents are on their way,” Danny said. “And the nurses would like to know what the baby’s name is.”

“I haven’t even thought about that.” Steve shrugged. “I guess Catherine and I should talk about that.”

“Lizanne also wants to talk with you and Catherine.” Danny added.

“I don’t want to do anymore talking right now.” Steve was clearly quite firm on that. “I just want to see my baby and try to get some sleep.”

Danny nodded his head. “I understand. I’ll go tell Lizanne.” He stood up and walked back to the group while Steve left the waiting room and headed to the nursery.

Mary looked up when Danny joined them. “Where did Steve go?”

“Probably to see the baby,” he said. “Then I’m going to try and convince him to get some sleep.”

“Sleep, where?” Mary asked. “Not a free room here.”

“I didn’t even ask him. He’ll probably go back to HQ since it’s closer than the house.”

\----

Around three a.m. a man in a black suit and carrying a burgundy briefcase walked into the police station where Nick was. He lightly tapped on the front desk and waited for an officer to appear.

“Help you?” the officer asked as he walked to the desk

“I’m Justin Ambrose; Nick Taylor sent for me.”

“Are you his lawyer?” the officer asked

“I wasn’t aware that he needed one,” Justin replied, “I was just told to meet him here.”

“Well, he’s in a cell and the only one who can see him right now is his lawyer.”

“Then I’m his lawyer.” 

The officer gave the man a weary look. “Right this way Mr. Ambrose.” He stepped from behind the desk and walking to where the cells were. “Heads up, Taylor; you have a visitor.”

Nick sat up from his lying position on the bench and looked at Justin. “You got here fast.”

“I was already in town.” Justin walked to the bars. “When your mother called at 2:30 in the morning saying I need to meet you here, I got worried.” He looked Nick over. “By the looks of things, you look like you could talk to someone.”

Nick sighed. “I’m in a big mess, Justin.”

The lawyer looked at the officer. “Is there a room my client and I can talk privately?”

The officer nodded his head, unlocked the cell then turned and walked to an interrogation room. “In here.” Nick and Justin walked into the room and sat in the chairs around the table. The officer closed the door and walked back to the front desk.

“How did you end up here?” Justin asked

“It’s a long story and has to do with Steve, Catherine and the baby.” Nick explained.

“Just start from the beginning,” Justin said. He opened his briefcase and pulled out a pad of paper and pen.

Nick rubbed a hand through his hair and sighed. “Remember when mom called and told you that Catherine was pregnant?” Justin nodded his head and wrote something on his pad. “Well, it seems that she was with someone while she was with me and now she doesn’t know who the father of her baby is.”

Justin held his pen in mid air and looked at Nick. “So she cheated on you?”

“Technically, she cheated on Steve with me,” Nick corrected.

“How long has this been going on?”

“Months, probably our entire relationship,” Nick replied.

“And when did you find out?”

“At the beginning of this week, I guess.”

“Paternity test?” Justin asked. He continued writing.

Nick nodded his head. “Did it a couple hours ago.”

“We should know by the end of the week then,” he said. “Now, how did you end up here?”

“Catherine’s parents got her a lawyer and she signed over custody of the baby to Steve,” Nick said. “She told him that he was the father and that she didn’t want to keep the baby.”

“Does he know that Catherine cheated on him?”

“He found out about the same time I did,” Nick replied. “But she’s been living with him for the last month.”

Justin nodded his head and wrote something else down. “Now back to how you ended up here….”

“Danny, Steve’s partner, said that they were getting some big shot lawyer and that if I was smart, I’d get myself one as well,” Nick said. “I don’t know who I can trust here, so I went to some legal aid people and asked for help. They suggested I talk with Catherine and try to get her to change her mind about whatever papers she signed.” Justin nodded his head and Nick continued. “Earlier today, er, last night, she told me she wasn’t going to change her mind. I got mad, hit her and she fell…on her stomach. The police came, arrested me and took Catherine to the hospital.”

Justin looked at Nick. “Have you seen Catherine since?” Nick shook his head. “Well, I’ll go to the hospital and see how she is.”

“And the baby…if she’s had her yet,” Nick added.

“I’ll check on the baby too,” Justin said. “Is there anything else about this situation I need to know about?”

“Well I don’t know,” Nick said. “Lizanne, the big shot lawyer, and Robert, that’s Steve’s lawyer, came about an hour before I was able to call my mom.”

Justin looked at Nick with a serious expression. “Did they talk to you? Did you tell them anything?”

“They talked but I didn’t say anything,” Nick said. “There was another officer in here as well. They all seemed to be friendly like.”

Justin nodded his head, and wrote more notes on his pad of paper. He looked at Justin as he put his stuff away. “Don’t worry about this. I’ll be dealing with it now. In the mean time, don’t talk to Catherine’s lawyer, Steve or his lawyer or anyone else without me,” Justin said. “In fact, just stay in the cell and don’t say anything until I come back in the morning.” Nick nodded his head, stood up as well and followed Justin out of the room. An officer led Nick back to his cell as Justin walked out of the station and to his car to go to the hospital.

\----

Mary found Steve sitting in the nursery next to the plastic bassinet that the baby was in. He was holding a bottle in her mouth and watching her suckle from it. Steve looked up and smiled some when Mary lightly knocked on the door. “Can you believe the nurse said she’s strong enough for me feed her like this?”

Mary shook her head. “That’s hard to believe,” she said, “and she’s so small.”

“She’s a little over five pounds.” Steve said. His eyes and voice were full of awe. “I couldn’t leave without getting the chance the feed her.”

“Where exactly are you planning on going?” Mary asked. “We live quite a distance from here.”

Steve shrugged his shoulders. “I’d probably go back to HQ and crash on my couch.”

“That’s what Danny said he was going to try and get you to do.” Mary smiled at her brother and then gave him a hug. “I’ll leave you to bonding with your daughter.”

“Her name’s Keilana Denise.” Steve said.

“Mom would love that you chose her name for the baby’s middle name,” Mary said. “I’ll tell the others.” She turned and walked out of the nursery and back to the waiting room.

\------

Chin and Kono finally arrived at the hospital, after stopping at Steve’s place for a change of clothes for him and Danny. 

“Where’s Steve?” Kono asked.

“With Keilana,” Mary said.

Chin smiled. “ _Adored One_ ; I’d say that’s a fitting name for her.”

“She has our mom’s middle name. Keilana Denise.”

“That’s pretty,” Kono said. “It has a nice flow to it. Keilana Denise McGarrett.”

“Aren’t you being a bit presumptuous that her last name will be McGarrett?” Catherine’s lawyer, Cole Paulson said. “After all, she could end up being a Taylor.”

“Bite your tongue!” Danny growls and shoots the man a look. “That little girl is a McGarrett.”

“You keep telling yourself that.” Cole said

“What exactly are you doing here?” Mary finally asked. The man had been sitting in on their conversations for going on 30 minutes. “This area is for family and friends only.”

“Catherine asked me to be here. I’m her lawyer.”

“If you haven’t noticed, Catherine’s in the room, not out here.” Mary said

“Oh, I was just leaving.” Cole walked from the room.

The group continued to talk until Steve returned from the nursery. He walked into the waiting room and cleared his throat. The group looked up and there were a sea of congratulations as he walked into the room. Steve smiled, took a seat next to Danny and thanked everyone.

“So what were we talking about?” he asked

“Nothing too important. Stuff about the baby, how paternity results were going to come out….” Mary said with a shrug.

“Court,” Danny, Chin and Kono added at the same time

“Where you may end up going,” a voice behind them announced. The group turned around and looked at the man who was standing in the entrance to the waiting room. “The name’s Justin Ambrose. Counsel for Nick Taylor.”

“I’d say this is a pleasant surprise,” Lizanne said, “but it’s not.”

“Lizanne, such harsh words for your former employer,” Justin said with a leer

A chill ran down Lizanne’s back. “You are scum, Justin and you should have been disbarred.”

Justin gave a hearty laugh. “Not when you’re as distinguished as I am.”

Steve looked at Lizanne. “You know him?”

“Unfortunately,” Lizanne sighed. “It was because of him I dropped criminal law and went into family law.”

“The criminal lawyers would have eaten you up for desert, Lizanne,” Justin said. “But that was in the past. Let us focus on what’s going on now.” Justin sat in a chair placing his brief case at his feet. “My client would like to see the baby first thing in the morning. Until the paternity of the child is determined, no name is to be put on the birth certificate.”

“Too late for that,” Steve said. “Her name is Keilana Denise.”

“Correction, until tomorrow morning, her name is Baby Jane,” Justin said. “If she is Nick’s daughter, he should be allowed to name her.”

Lizanne folded her hands and placed them in her lap. Danny had seen that move before. She was not pleased and was trying to keep herself under control. “Anything else?”

“Oh, trust me, you don’t want me to go into the list of complaints I have against you and Robert,” Justin said. “Trying to talk, I mean intimidate someone in jail without their lawyer present…” he made a tsk’ing sound and shook his head in mock dismay. “I thought I taught you better than that.”

Lizanne rolled her eyes. “If anything, I learn from the examples set in front of me.”

Justin gave a smooth smile. “One last thing, don’t try to leave with the child,” Justin said looking at Steve. “It’s against the law to kidnap.”

“You’d be wise to tell that to Catherine too,” Steve said. “She’s right down the hall.”

Justin stood and gave a curt nod. “That’s exactly what I plan on doing.” He walked out of the waiting room and headed to Catherine’s to see if she was still awake.

“Well, I don’t know about you,” Lizanne said as she stood up, “but there’s a bed with my name on it. And I’m going to need to be at the top of my game to go against him.”

“Speaking of beds….” Danny said as he turned to Steve, “Come on Pops. Let’s get you to HQ so you can crash on the couch for a few hours.”

Steve nodded his head and smiled. He looked at everyone in the room, then back to Lizanne. “Okay. Lizanne…thank you.” 

Lizanne smiled and continued out of the room, Robert following behind them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks K for the additions on making this *that* much more realistic

Over the next week, the doctors released Catherine from the hospital. The day before she left, Danny slipped into her room to have a talk with her. Steve had told him about the abuse that Catherine dealt with and he wanted to know what her plans were as far as her relationship with Nick.

“I don’t see how any of this is your business,” Catherine said. “Why would you care?”

Danny resisted rolling his eyes and pulled a chair up next to Catherine’s bed. “I may not like you very much for how you’ve treated Steve for almost a year, but you’re still a person and you don’t deserve to be treated that way. And in case you’ve forgotten, which I highly doubt, but you’ve been around cops for at least a year. Why won’t you reach out for help in dealing with the abuse from Nick?”

Catherine winced at his words but said nothing. Danny continued speaking.

“If Steve is proven to be the baby’s father, I know he’s not going to want to deprive his daughter of having both of her parents in her life, but if you stay with Nick, he’s not going to allow the baby to be around the both of you…and that’s not fair to you or your daughter.”

Catherine shook her head and crossed her arms across her chest in an attempt to hide her face. “You don’t understand it’s not that simple,” she murmured.

Danny gently placed a hand on her arm but removed it when she attempted to hide a flinch. “Then help me, or someone understand and get you away from him,” he pleaded.

\------

The following day, the doctor okayed Catherine’s release from the hospital, and she went back to the hotel with her parents leaving Steve and Nick to watch over the little baby girl. After a couple of days, the doctor said that she was strong enough to be held, so Steve and Nick took turns holding and feeding her.

The initial paternity results were inconclusive, so the test had to be done again. When the little girl was two weeks old, they finally had conclusive DNA results.

“Congratulations, Commander McGarrett,” the doctor said. “You are the father.”

Nick left the hospital in a huff. His chances of having a family with the woman he loved went up in a ball of smoke when Steve’s name was said and not his. Nick was heartbroken; he had bonded with the baby, Janie as he was calling her, during the week he was with her in the hospital.

The loss of the little girl was only the start of his problems. With Steve, the rest of Five-0 and so many other police officers knowing his business, there’s no telling who, if anyone, talked Catherine out of staying with him. But he couldn’t think of that. He felt the painful edges of the need to shoot up again.

\------

The following weekend, when Keilana Denise was almost three weeks old, the doctors told Steve that he could take his daughter home. Steve asked Chin, Kono, and Mary if they could go to the house and make sure everything was cleaned and ready for him to bring his daughter home.

“Are you ready?” Danny asked Steve as they walked out of the hospital.

Steve looked at his boyfriend, and yes, he and Danny had finally taken that step and were going to try for a relationship, and smiled. “You know I am,” he said. “Are you sure everything at the house is ready?”

“Mary and Kono have been working nonstop,” Danny said. “Even Kamekona and Gracie have been helping.”

Steve laughed. “Grace called me a few hours ago and asked where she could put all the pictures she drew for Keilana,” he commented. “Her exact words were, ‘Uncle Steve, I’ve been drawing for two weeks and there’s a lot of nice pictures to choose from for Keilana’s room’.”

Danny nodded his head and smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like my Gracie.”

They walked out of the hospital towards Kono’s car. She graciously offered to let Danny and Steve use it to bring the baby home since Danny’s car would be too cramped in the back, and the truck was currently sitting in the parking lot at headquarters.

After a 45 minute drive, they arrived at the house. Danny parked the car in the driveway and sat there a moment. He turned and looked at Steve who was sitting in the back seat next to the baby carrier. “How’s she doing?”

“Still sleeping and sucking on her thumb,” Steve said with a smile. He opened the door, got out and walked to the other side to get Keilana out.

Danny got out, grabbed the baby bag and waited for Steve at the front of the car. “Come on. We have family waiting to see her,” he said

They walked up the pathway to the front door. Danny took the keys from Steve, unlocked the door, opened it and walked in. “We’re home!” he called out.

“In the living room!” Mary called back.

They walked to the living room to see their family and close friend sitting or standing around. Above the fireplace was a banner with pink writing:

**WELCOME HOME KEILANA AND STEVE!**

“Aww, you guys shouldn’t have,” Steve said as he set the baby carrier on the coffee table. “But thank you.”

“So where is she?” Mary asked. “Let’s see her.”

Steve unbuckled it and took Keilana out. He stood in front of the fireplace and smiled. “Everyone, this is Keilana Denise McGarrett.”

“I wonder who got her that adorable pink dress….” Rachel threw a smile and wink Steve’s direction.

Steve laughed. “Thank you for the dress, Rachel.”

Rachel smile. “You’re quite welcome. It was actually Grace who picked it out.”

Grace came down the stairs when she heard her mother say her name.” Mommy! Are Danno, Uncle Steve and Keilana home?”

Steve sat in the chair near the window and smiled. “Yes, we’re home.”

Grace stepped closer to Steve. “She’s sleeping.” 

Danny nodded his head and picked Grace up. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to do that anymore. “Yes she is. She’s probably going to be doing a lot of that until she gets older.”

The group spent the rest of the afternoon looking at baby pictures, laughing, talking and eating the food that Kamekona brought over. Around seven, everyone began to leave and Steve was finally able to unwind from the two weeks he spent at the hospital and all that had gone on the last eight months. Mary and Danny were the only ones left when Steve took Keilana up to the nursery, turned on the baby monitor and stood at the crib watching his daughter sleep. Eventually he’d have to unpack and put together the portable crib and move it to his room, but for right now, little Keilana Denise was safe in her room.

Danny appeared in the doorway and spoke softly. “If you’re hungry, one of Kono’s Aunties made dinner and it was just dropped off.”

Steve turned and looked at Danny. “I’ll eat later. I want to stay in here a while longer.”

Danny smiled, walked to him and gave him a hug. “You did well.” He gave Steve a soft kiss on the lips, and noticed the portable crib. “Babe, why do you have that?”

“So Keilana can sleep in my…our…room, and we can keep an eye on her,” Steve stated. “Keep her safe from anybody who might want to….”

“Steve,” Danny interrupted, “I know paranoia is an integral part of your military training, but she’ll be fine in here. We have the monitor, though why we need it is anybody’s guess, but trust me, you do not want her in the room with you - us.”

“One, why don’t we need a monitor? And two, don’t you want her with us?”

“All right, Steve, I’m going to lay this out for you.” Danny took a breath. “One, she’s a total of five feet away and you, with your bat-like hearing, will know the moment she wakes up. When you have a monitor, you end up going into the room every time she makes a sound. The moment you’re in there, she’ll see you and want out, and that, my dear SEAL, will be the end of your sleep for the night. And two,” Danny held up two fingers, “if she’s in the room with us, the same thing will happen, and I assure you, whatever sex life we have will go straight into the toilet.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed, “no to the portable crib. But the monitor stays.”

‘For now,’ Danny thought, memories of both Rachel and himself rushing to Grace’s room the moment she woke; his mother had taken the monitor and thrown it out the window, pointing out that she didn’t have one with four children and they had all been fine. “I’m going to eat, and I’ll be sure to save you a plate.”

Steve smiled. “Thanks.” He went back to watching his daughter sleep. “So perfect,” he said softly.

“Just like her daddy,” Danny murmured as he headed downstairs.

\------

When things began to have some form of order, Steve requested more time off so that he could take care of Keilana and look for more permanent child care. He didn’t want to always rely on Rachel and Mary, despite how much of an asset they were in helping him and teaching him what to do.

In the few years that Steve had known Rachel, he never thought she and Danny would be at a point where they were friendly with each other. Danny no longer had to fear Rachel revoking his limited time with Grace. Likewise, Rachel spent quite a bit of her free time teaching Steve all she knew about caring for a baby.

Rachel laughed at Steve’s comment. “Really, Steven. You make it sound like I’m Dr. Spock.”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “The Star Trek guy?” This caused Danny, Rachel and Mary to nearly fall over from laughing so hard.

\------

It was in the quiet moments, where it was just him and his daughter, when Steve wished his mother was still alive. To learn from her, to have her meet and spend time with her first granddaughter. He also wished his father was alive, but never as many times as he’s wished for his mother.

He knew his mother would absolutely love and adore Keilana, and she’d take Grace on like her own granddaughter as well. The house would always smell of cookies and pies, and not because of the candles Mary brought and left one weekend.

\------

Steve was pleasantly surprised at how natural Mary was in caring for Keilana. Mary had said many times she didn’t want children, but knowing the right things seemed to come easy to Mary.

“Just because I don’t want kids of my own doesn’t mean I won’t want to spoil Keilana or Grace,” Mary said with a playful shove of her brother’s shoulder. “I can return them to their parents when I need a break. You, Danny and Rachel are **stuck** with them.”

Steve smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “You say that now, but I bet when it comes time for you to go back to LA, you’re going to have just as hard a time as I will once it’s time for me to go back to work.”

\------

Another thing that shocked Steve came in the form of Jean Rollins, Catherine’s mother. Steve had always been on good terms with Jean, they got along well, but at the hospital, when emotions were running high, things were said by her and Steve as well. Once everyone was more or less calm, Steve and Jean were able to talk in private.

Jean voiced her concern that she wouldn’t be able to see her granddaughter because of how the DNA results came out, but Steve assured her that she would be able to see Keilana whenever she wanted. He would never willingly deprive his daughter of spending time with her grandparents. He never got to do much of that when he was growing up and he didn’t want the same for his daughter.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Don't you just hate it when RL gets in the way?

One day, about a week after Catherine left Oahu, she returned. She said she wanted to see little Keilana one last time before she left the country. Catherine ended up spending two months in Hawaii; two months living in a hotel; two months bonding with the little baby that would never remember who she was.

Steve was a little hesitant about letting Catherine spend so much time with Keilana, but he figured that this was Catherine’s way of letting go, and if spending time with Keilana was what she needed, then he was going to let her spend time with the little baby.

Now that paternity had been determined, Steve was beginning to think about custody and possible visitation between Keilana, Catherine and Catherine’s parents. So far, neither of Steve’s lawyers or Catherine’s lawyer could agree upon a visitation schedule, but they were able to agree on custody – Steve would have sole legal and physical custody.

\------

In the days before Catherine was to leave, she was having second thoughts about continuing with her naval career. She was currently three months into her 12 month deployment deferment from active duty and would have a lot of time to think about what she wanted to do with the rest of her life.

The McGarrett, now McGarrett-Williams, household was busy with people coming and going. Visiting friends, visiting Kalakaua Aunties and Catherine thought there was a Williams’ family member or two around, but she couldn’t be sure. Five-0 had a big case and the Governor was really after the team to solve it fast.

Rachel was at the house almost daily, watching Keilana and generally helping out. She overheard Steve voicing his concern to Danny about Catherine spending time with Keilana because he didn’t entirely trust her not to try and run off with her. Rachel took it upon herself to watch Catherine closely while she interacted with the baby.

Mary was also at the house daily. She had a niece now, and it was her duty to insure that the little girl, the daughter of her brother, did not end up an anal neat and clean freak that lived on health food. She also liked her time with Rachel and Grace. And, like her brother, she too was a bit distrustful of Catherine spending time alone with Keilana. While they were at the hospital, she overheard Steve telling Danny about the abuse that Catherine went through while with Nick. As she listened, she thought back on the times when she was around Catherine, before the baby was born, and she could have kicked herself for not realizing sooner. She acted the same way before getting out of her last relationship.

Mary watched Catherine as she interacted with Danny and Steve, she could see the subtle aborted, and sometimes not aborted flinching she did. The flinching mostly happened when the guys were speaking with her and would casually touch her arm, hand or leg to get her attention. Mary remembered doing the same thing when she was around any man who spoke to her. She also wondered if Catherine realized what she’s doing.

“Catherine, can I talk to you?” Mary asked

Catherine’s brow wrinkled. “Talk about what?”

Mary mulled over how to get Catherine to talk to her without making it seem like she was being accused of anything. She decided the best way would be the way her girlfriend back in California did it with her.

“About three years ago I was in a relationship with this guy, Jacob. I thought he was really great. We ran in all the same circles, had a lot of the same friends, we even liked a lot of the same things. I introduced him to Steve and they hit it off great. But then one weekend, after partying way too hard and running from one too many party fights, things escalated when we got home.” Mary paused to collect her thoughts. Even after three years, thinking about what she went through was like experiencing it all over again. “Jacob came home high as a kite and swore up and down that I was hiding another man in the bedroom. He tore the place apart, threatened to kill me, then locked me in the bathroom to _punish_ me.” Mary looked at Catherine and she could tell some of what she was saying had happened to her. “I dealt with Jacob like that every day for six months, until I physically couldn’t take it anymore.”

“What happened?” Catherine’s voice was so soft, Mary almost missed the question.

Mary ran a shaky hand through her hair and sighed. “He came to my job, threatened me again, he would have hit me if security hadn’t shown up. He was violent in the past, but never like the way he was that day. I was hysterical. I didn’t know whether to cry or laugh or scream after what happened, but I knew I couldn’t be in a relationship with him anymore. So I came home.” Mary looked at Catherine, “When we bumped into each other that morning by the bathroom, it’d been a month since I ended things with Jacob.”

“You never saw…Jacob again?” Catherine asked. Mary shook her head. “How…just like that?”

Mary nodded her head. “Just like that. I quit my job, I told my friends I was going home, and I left LA.”

“He didn’t follow you?”

Mary shook her head again. “Nope, but he called a lot. I changed my number to finally be rid of him. After I was kidnapped and Steve sent me back to California, I made sure I wasn’t in touch with any of the people we used to be friends with. I couldn’t risk him finding me again and following through with his threat to kill me.”

There was a lull in their conversation before Catherine spoke. She had experienced a lot of what Mary did, especially when Nick began using drugs and that…well that came as a big surprise to her. She hadn’t even known he was using until she found his stash.

“Nick…Nick’s never actually threatened to kill me,” she rung her hands together, “but he’s had a lot of the same training as Steve ---”

“You don’t honestly think that **Steve** would abuse you, do you?” Mary asked incredulously.

Catherine’s eyes went wide in shock. “Oh God no! That’s not what I’m saying. It’s just that with their training, it wouldn’t take much to kill someone. Nick’s been violent towards me and he’s hit me a couple, I ended up in Urgent Care once, but he’s never threatened to kill me.”

Mary was shocked at how Catherine kept fixating on the fact that Nick never threatened to kill her as an explanation or excuse for what he’s done. “Putting you in the hospital should have been your wake up call.”

\------

Mary spent the next week talking with Catherine about the abuse she went through and in turn, Catherine opened up more about what Nick had done to her. What Catherine went through wasn’t anything nearly as bad as what Mary dealt with, but abuse, be it physical or emotional, is abuse, and Catherine was beginning to accept that and come around to the idea of getting help.

One afternoon, however, something changed and, no one noticed Catherine walk out of the front of Steve’s house with a bundled baby Keilana in her arms. She placed Keilana in the baby carrier that was buckled in the back seat of her rented car.

“I’m doing the right thing,” she said to the sleeping girl.

\------

Later that afternoon, Steve returned home. He was now in the habit of doing that so he could check in with Rachel or Mary to see how Keilana was doing and get in an afternoon feeding. He walked in the front door, went to the downstairs bathroom to clean up and then went to the kitchen to prepare the bottle. He walked up to the nursery and noticed Keilana wasn’t there; panic began to flow though him. He went to the baby monitor and it was still on. He thought about who had the other end. “Mary, where are you?” Steve spoke into the monitor.

“In the kitchen!” Mary yelled back.

Steve left the nursery and went to the kitchen. “Mare…where’s Keilana?”

“Last I saw, she was with Catherine in the living room,” Mary said as she looked at Steve. “Why?”

Steve shook his head and walked to the living room. Rachel and Grace folding clothes were on the sofa folding clothes. “Have you seen Catherine?”

“Yes, she said she was going to put Keilana down because she was asleep.”

“No, I was just up there,” Steve said. His eyes went wide as he rushed to the door. He opened the door, walked out and stood on the porch.

While he was out there, Mary walked into the living room. “Where’s Steve?”

“He just left out. It was weird,” Grace said. “He asked if we saw Catherine. When we said no, he just left.”

Mary went to the front door and watched as Steve walked down the path to the driveway. “What are you doing, Steve?”

“How did Catherine get here?” he asked without turning around.

“She had a rented car,” Mary replied as she looked around, “and it’s gone.”

“Damn it!” Steve said. He turned around and looked at her. “She took Keilana!”

“She what?” Rachel asked when she joined them outside. “Are you sure?”

“Rachel, I was just in Keilana’s room,” Steve said. “She wasn’t there.”

While they were outside talking, the phone inside rang. Mary returned to the house to answer it. “Hello…yeah, he’s here…who this is…oh, Robert, I’ll get him, hold on.” Mary took the cordless phone and walked outside, “Steve, Robert’s on the phone.” 

Steve walked to her, took the phone and walked back inside. “Hello?”

“Steve, how are things going?” Robert asked

“She took her,” Steve said. “She took my daughter.”

“What?” Robert asked. “Who took Keilana?”

“Catherine!” Steve shouted. “She’s been spending time with her before she leaves.”

“How long?” Robert asked

“She’s been here about two months.”

“No, how long has Catherine been gone?” Robert asked

“I…I don’t know,” Steve replied. He looked at Rachel. “How long ago was it when Catherine said she was taking Keilana to the nursery?”

Rachel’s brow furrowed as she thought, but it was Grace who answered. “It was about 45 minutes ago, Uncle Steve.”

Steve went back to his conversation on the phone. “Did you hear?”

“Yes, I heard,” Robert said. “She didn’t tell anyone where she was going?”

“No, damn it!” Steve said. “We’ve all been busy working. Rachel and Mary helping to keep things clean and I’ve been swamped with cases with Five-0.”

“I’ll call her lawyer and you try and find out where she is before anything else is done.”

“What are you talking about!?” Steve exclaimed. “I need to get HPD and my team on this so they can find her!”

“We will, but one thing at a time,” Robert said. “I’ll call you in one hour.” He hung up the phone.

Steve handed the phone to Mary and pulled out his cell to call Kono. Without greeting, he got right down to business. “Has Danny come back yet?”

“He’s still in the meeting with the DA,” Kono said. “It’s likely to be all day.”

“Call him and tell him it’s an emergency,” Steve said. He was pacing and his free hand continually ran through his hair. “Catherine took off with Keilana!”

“She did what?!” Kono demanded. She switched the phone to speaker and set it on the computer table. “I’ve got you on speaker with Chin and Lori. Start from the beginning.”

“Came home like always in the afternoon to spend time with Keilana and feed her before going back to HQ. I made up her bottle and went to the nursery and she wasn’t there. Rachel said Catherine was going to put the baby down because she was asleep, but I was up in the nursery and the baby isn’t there,” Steve paused before continuing. “Her rental car is gone too.”

“Where would she have gone?” Lori asked

“She was leaving the country tomorrow,” Steve said. “She wouldn’t have told me where she was going, anyway.”

“I’ll call Admiral Abrams and see if he can tell me anything,” Lori said

“What about her family?” Chin asked. “Have they gone back to California?”

“No, they were going to spend some time here,” Steve said. “They have a house in Maui.”

“I’ll flag their names in case she boards any planes or ships off Oahu,” Chin replied.

“Great. This is great. I still need Danny,” Steve said. He was almost frantic in his need to have Danny with him; helping him through this. “Kono, can you call that DA and let him know we need Danny back?”

“I’ll do it right now,” she said. “We’ll find Catherine and Keilana, Steve! Don’t worry!”


	14. Chapter 14

Within 20 minutes, Danny, as well as Robert Jamison, Lizanne Sawyer and Sergeant Duke Lukela were at the house. Mary let them in and pulled Danny to the side to speak in private with him. “He’s in the living room and livid.”

Danny nodded his head and went to the living room. He looked around before his eyes landed on Steve who was just coming in from the office. “Babe, what’s going on?”

“Catherine’s taken Keilana,” Steve said.

“Come again?” Lizanne asked.

“Catherine. Took. My. Daughter.” Steve emphasized each word. “I want you to help me get her back…no matter what it takes.”

Liz sat on the sofa and put her briefcase on the floor next to her. She folded her hands and looked at Steve. “Whatever it takes?” Steve nodded his head. “Then go about life as normal.” Steve was about to protest, but Liz held up her hand. “Deal with the case you’re on, work on Grace’s birthday party, finalize the trip to Jersey…do everything you’ve been doing. While you do that, Robert and I will be working.”

“So you’re not going to help me?” Steve asked dreading the answer he would get in response.

“I never said that,” Liz said. “You do your thing and we’ll do our thing. I hope that I’ll be able to get Catherine before she leaves the country.”

“You hope?”

“Yes, hope,” Robert said. "If she leaves the country, it’s going to be twice as hard to get to her as it would if she were in another state.”

Steve sighed. “I guess my life…my daughter’s life is in your hands.”

Robert smiled some before standing up, grabbing his briefcase and walking out of the living room, “Don’t worry, Steve. I’ll be in touch with you the minute we get something concrete.”

“Steve, relax. Rachel can attest to how good I am.” Lizanne walked out of the living room and out of the house.

“How can she be so calm about this?!” Steve asked out loud

“Personally, I’d be more worried if she was flying off the handle and spitting fire,” Danny said. “You know she’s good, babe.”

Steve nodded his head. “Yeah, I do. She was Rachel’s lawyer.”

Rachel looked up and smiled. “She did a wonderful job all those years ago, don’t you think?”

“I happen to like her most recent job,” Danny said. “The arrangement we have now works out so great. I love being able to see Grace daily.”

“I love seeing you every day too, Danno.” Grace hugged him around his waist.

Steve took Duke into the office and gave him the pertinent information he’d need to help locate Catherine.

\------

Once Catherine left the area, she crisscrossed around town thinking of what she was going to do. She hadn’t thought that she’d make it as far as she did so the next things that she did were spur of the moment. She did, however, know that she needed to get baby things. She pulled into the parking lot of the first store that she saw, parked her car, got out, pulled the baby carrier out and walked into the store. She placed the carrier in the front of a basket and walked up and down the aisles placing various things in the cart.

When she got to the baby aisle she put multiple packages of diapers, bottles, powdered formula and new bottles in the cart. She walked farther down and noticed the clothing so she put a few of those in her cart as well

Once she was sure that she had enough things, she headed to the check out. Unfortunately her total came to more than she had in cash; she had to put in on her credit card. Once the items were paid, she walked back to her car, loaded it, secured Keilana and went back to the Marriott Hotel. To avoid being seen by anyone, she parked near the back entrance and only took the things she needed right away with her went she went to her room.

On the way up to her room, she thought she saw Steve so she ducked into a room that was being cleaned. The maid looked up from the bed she was making. “Can I help you?”

Catherine turned and looked at the lady. “Sorry, wrong room,” she said. She walked out of the room, to the elevator and up to her floor.

When she got to her room, she set the bags on the floor then placed the carrier next to them. She pulled her room key out of her pocket, unlocked the door, and pushed it open, picked up the carrier and walked in. She placed Keilana on the sofa before going back to the door for her bag. Once she had them all, she closed and locked the door before returning to Keilana.

“My precious little girl,” Catherine said as she unbuckled the carrier and took the small baby out, “one day you’ll thank me for doing this.” She walked to the bed, moved some pillows around and placed Keilana snuggly between them.

Catherine sat on the bed next to her sleeping baby, picked up the phone, dialed a number and waited for the person to pick up. “Hello?” the person asked.

“Mom, I need a favor….” Catherine said

“Catherine?” the woman questioned, “I thought that you would have been on your way to New York or over the Atlantic.”

“Plans changed,” Catherine said. “And there’s someone you need to meet.”

“I need to meet?” she asked, “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

Catherine laughed some. It was just like her mother to jump to conclusions. “No mom,” She said. “When was the last time you were at the house in Maui?”

“Oh goodness,” Her mother said. “Probably sometime last year. Why?”

“How soon can a yacht be ready to take me over?” Catherine asked

“An hour,” she said. “Catherine, you haven’t told me why.”

“Just want another change of scenery before I go,” Catherine said. “You and dad should come too.”

“Your father’s has some new workers he’s training so he won’t be able to join us.”

“Okay, well then you come,” Catherine said. “It’ll be just us girls.”

“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll call the club and have them get things ready.”

“Thanks, mom. I’ll see you in an hour.” Catherine hung up her phone and looked down at the baby, “We’re going to see Grandma today.”

\------

As Lizanne made her way from Steve’s house to her office, she made a mental list of all the documents she would need to have drawn up and filed with the court to help Steve gain custody of his daughter. She was about 45 minutes away when she got a call on her cell phone from a number she didn’t recognize. She connected using the Bluetooth option on her steering wheel. “Hello?”

“Lizanne?” the lady asked. “It’s Jean.”

“Jean…Jean….” Lizanne said thinking, “Is that name supposed to ring a bell?”

“Catherine’s mother,” the woman said with an exasperated sigh.

When Lizanne heard that she pulled her car to a stop and stared out the windshield, “Jean Rollins? The same Jean who, two months ago, called me a cold heartless bitch for taking her granddaughter away from her?”

“How many times do I have to apologize for calling you that?” she asked. “I was upset and I shouldn’t have lashed out at you.”

“Then you should have thought about that before you opened your mouth,” Lizanne said. “But I don’t have time to rehash past conversations. I’m busy.”

“Look, before you hang up, I just talked to Catherine and she sounded…off,” Jean said.

“She always sounds off,” Lizanne replied. “But you talked to her? How long ago was this?”

“Well, more so than usual,” Jean added. “About twenty minutes ago…why?”

“What did she say?” Lizanne asked excitedly

“She wants to meet me,” Jean said. “And before you ask me where, I promised her I wouldn’t say.”

Lizanne silently cursed. “Did you call to dangle that carrot in front of my face?”

“I wanted to know if you’ve heard anything from her lawyer.” Jean asked. “I have this bad feeling that she’s done something and is going to want my help.”

“Well, be a good mother and help her,” Lizanne said. “I really don’t understand why you called me. If you wanted to know if she’s talked to her lawyer, or if he’s mentioned anything, why don’t you just ask him?”

Lizanne had a feeling that Jean was keeping something from her so before she hung up she added a little reminder. “Jean, I want you to remember that Steve is being more than giving when it comes to visitations with Keilana, so if you know anything, you need to tell us.”

“You don’t think I know that!?” Jean snapped. “That’s why I called you and not Robert, Steve or Catherine’s lawyer. I was hoping that…never mind.” She hung up the phone.

“Never mind…never mind what!?” Lizanne asked. But it was too late, the line was dead. Lizanne put her car in drive and headed back towards Steve’s house. As she was driving, she dialed Steve’s number and waited for someone to answer.

“McGarrett Pizza Company….” A cheery voice laughed into the phone.

“Is this Mary or Kono?” Lizanne asked

“Mary…do I know you?”

“It’s Lizanne; I need to talk to Steve. It’s important.”

“Okay,” Mary handed the phone to Steve. “It’s Lizanne, and she said it’s important.”

Steve took the phone. “Is everything okay, Lizanne?”

“I need you to stay at home for the next ten minutes,” Lizanne said. “I’m on way back.”

“What’s going on?” Steve asked again.

“I’ll tell you in 10 minutes,” Lizanne said. “In the mean time, I need you to do something. Don’t talk, just listen. Call whoever it is you need to call, but find out Nick’s new phone number.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed, and used his cell to call Chin. He couldn’t help the small smile, knowing if the detective couldn’t get to a computer, he most likely had a relative or three who worked for the phone company. Either way Steve would get the number – he had chosen his team wisely.

Lizanne had by now turned on the main street that led to Steve’s house. 

“Steve, have you heard anything from Catherine yet?” Chin asked.

“No, nothing yet,” Steve replied. “Lizanne is on her way back and she needs any new contact information on Nick Taylor. He got out on bail from the assault charge and he’s due in court in a few weeks, so I’d check there for any updated information.”

“On it, Steve,” Chin said. “Let me know if anything else comes up.” 

“You know it, brah.” Steve ended the call, went to the spare room/make-shift office and closed the door, waiting for Lizanne to return.

~+~

Catherine walked over to her suitcase, opened it and pulled out one of the baby outfits that she packed. She walked back over to the bed, changed Keilana into the pink and yellow sundress with matching hat. After, she went back to the living area and placed Keilana in the carrier. Once she secured Keilana, she went back to the room, pulled something out for her to wear and changed. She put the things she bought into her other suitcases, closed them up and put them next to the door. Then Catherine gave herself the once over in the mirror before going back to the living area, picking up the carrier and leaving her room.

She left the hotel 30 minutes later. She knew that from the hotel, it was a straight shot down Ala Moana Blvd to the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor and Hawaii Yacht Club where her parent’s yacht was. There were always standing orders to have a captain waiting and she was grateful for that. She pulled into guest parking, and waited until she saw her mother’s car or at the very least, her father’s.

After waiting for a couple minutes, she saw her mother’s car pull into the parking lot. Catherine started her car, made a U-turn and pulled into the parking lot alongside her mother’s car. She rolled down her window. “Mom, over here.” 

Jean turned around, gave a small smile and walked over to Catherine. “What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting in Maui?”

“I changed my mind.” Catherine said. Jean raised an eyebrow in confusion as she watched Catherine park the car, get out and casually lean against it.

Jean stood in front of her daughter. “Catherine is everything okay? Your behavior is all over the place. I’m kind of worried about you.”

“Everything is fine, mom.” Catherine said, “I just thought we could go to Maui together. It’ll save the crew from having to make multiple trips.”

“Well…okay,” Jean said with a nod and small smile, “that makes a lot of sense.”

“Okay,” Catherine agreed. “I left a couple of my suitcases at the hotel. I’ll go back and get them and by the time I get back, we should be ready to go.”

“I need to get more food and the hotel is on the way to the store, so why don’t you give me your hotel key and I’ll pick them up.”

Catherine smiled. ‘Exactly what I wanted,’ she thought to herself. She looked at her mother. “Are you sure?”

“Hang out in the club house, have a drink, just relax,” Jean suggested, “I’ll be back in an hour.”

Catherine smiled again, gave her mother a hug and pulled the key card out of her pocket giving it to her mother. “When you leave give it to the front desk and tell them that I’m checking out.” Jean nodded her head, took the key card from Catherine and headed to her car. Catherine waited until her mother was out of the parking lot before she got in her car and moved it to the member’s only parking for the Yacht Club. ‘I knew mom was gullible, but damn she made this easy.’


	15. Chapter 15

Lizanne arrived back at Steve’s house just as Danny was walking towards Rachel’s BMW with Grace. “Lizanne…back so soon?”

“Something came up with Steve. Didn’t he tell you?”

Danny shook his head. “No, he didn’t. I guess you were who just called. He’s locked himself in the office. Is everything okay?”

Lizanne glanced at Grace then back to Danny. “I’ll tell you when you get back to the house.”

Danny raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. He continued with Grace to Rachel’s BMW and watched them drive off for the day. Even though he would see Grace in the morning, he hated not being able to keep her with him all the time.

Once the tail lights of Rachel’s car were no longer visible, he turned and went back to the house. “Okay, what’s going on?” he asked as he closed the front door.

Lizanne waited for Danny to sit and for Steve to stop pacing and also sit. “I think Jean may know where Catherine is.”

~+~

When Jean got to the Marriott, she pulled into a 30 minute-parking spot, parked her car, got out and went into the hotel. She asked the man at the front desk where the elevators were and when he told her she turned and went to them.

She went up to the fourth floor, walked out and to the room. She slid the key card down the card reader and waited for the green light. When the light came on, she turned the handle, opened the door, walked in and saw Catherine’s bags.

Jean walked to the bags and picked them up. The first one was heavy, so she walked it to the bed, laid it flat and opened it. ‘Diapers and formula,’ Jean thought to herself. “Tell me you didn’t….” she said out loud.

Jean walked to the phone, picked it up and dialed Catherine’s number. When Catherine answered the phone, Jean didn’t know what to stay so she said the first thing that popped into her head. “Are you trying to keep me from seeing my granddaughter?”

“Mom?” Catherine asked. “What are you talking about?”

“I have a package of infant diapers in my hands,” Jean said, “that I got from your suitcase.”

“You went through my things?!” Catherine yelled

“The case was heavy and I wanted to see what was in it.”

“If it was so heavy, you should have asked a bellboy to help you!” Catherine said, quickly adding, “Not go through my things.”

“That’s beside the point,” Jean said, “and you didn’t answer my question. Are you trying to keep me from seeing my granddaughter?”

“You’d have to ask Steve.” 

“I feel like seeing her right now,” Jean said. “I think I’ll give him a call.” She ended the call before Catherine could respond, and then dialed Steve’s number. The phone rang three times before the machine picked up, “Steve, its Jean. I know it’s probably short notice, but I was in the area and I wanted to see Keilana. I should be over in about 30 minutes. I’ll see you then.”

Jean hung up the phone, put the diapers back in the suitcase, closed it and popped the wheels out on the bottom. She placed it on the floor and wheeled both cases out of the room with her. She walked down the hall to the elevator, got on and went down to the lobby. Once in the lobby, Jean went to the front desk. “I’m turning this key in for Catherine Rollins. Are there any charges to the room?”

The man typed Catherine’s name into the computer, “No charges. But I see here that she wasn’t due to check out until tomorrow. Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine.” Jean said, “She’s decided to stay with her father and me tonight.” The man smiled and nodded his head. Jean thanked him and was on her way out of the hotel and to her car. She loaded the suitcases into the back, got in and headed to Steve’s house.

+*+

When Catherine heard the dial tone on her end of the line, she knew things were going to be over. ‘She’s going to go to Steve’s house, he’s going to say that I took – no – **kidnapped** Keilana, and she’ll tell him that I’m here,’ Catherine thought to herself. She looked at Keilana who was looking up at her as she sucked on the bottle of freshly made formula.

Catherine was thankful she was currently alone in one of the Yacht Club’s back sitting rooms. She didn’t want to risk anyone who may know her parents to tell them she had Keilana. “One day, you’ll thank me for doing this, right Keilana?” 

Keilana’s eyes welled with tears and she started to cry. “Oh sweetie.” Catherine put the bottle down, picked Keilana up and began to gently rock her.

Keilana continued to cry no matter how much Catherine rocked or cooed to her. Catherine laid Keilana on the sofa to check to see if she needed to be changed, but she was clean. Catherine picked her up again and placed her over her shoulder to see if she needed to be burped. Keilana burped, but was still crying.

“I’ve seen everyone do this and you’re still crying!” Catherine yelled, more to herself out of frustration, but that only made Keilana cry more. She put Keilana back in the carrier. “What am I doing wrong?”

~+~

“What gives you the idea Jean knows where she is?” Danny asked.

“She called me not too long ago,” Lizanne said sitting down on the sofa. “Catherine called her and wanted to see her.”

“Did she have Keilana with her?” Steve asked, doing his best to keep himself calm.

“She didn’t say if Catherine had Keilana, but she did say Catherine sounded off when they talked. I don’t know if Jean knows what Catherine’s done.”

“Why didn’t you say anything to her?” Mary asked.

“And let Jean help her leave?” Lizanne shook her head. “No, I wasn’t going to do that. Plus Jean wouldn’t even tell me where they were going to meet.”

“Then why did you want Nick’s number?” Steve was more than a bit curious.

“He and Catherine may not be together, but they could still be talking,” Lizanne said.

“I don’t think so. At least not while she’s been here.” Mary flatly disagreed. “I’ve been watching her closely. And I also think she’s going to sever ties with him.”

“What do you mean ‘sever ties with him’?” Steve asked, and then he looked at Lizanne. “If they’re still talking, you think that Catherine told Nick where she was going?”

Lizanne shook her head some. “I don’t know, but right now, it’s better to be safe than to be sorry.” She looked at Steve. “Have you got that contact information?”

“Should be hearing back from Chin or Kono soon.”

It was some time later before Steve realized he had a message on the house phone. He walked to the office to listen to it. The sound of Jean’s urgent voice filled the air. Steve thought she sounded nervous, maybe anxious or scared. He looked at the clock and figured that she should be arriving to the house soon. He might need to run interference between Jean and Lizanne.

~+~

Jean got caught up in traffic, so her 30 minute drive turned into 45 minutes, but she was soon pulling to a stop across the street from Steve’s house. She parked the car, turned it off and got out. She stopped at the end of the driveway contemplating if she should leave and go home, or if she should face the consequences of what her daughter may have done. She gathered her courage and walked up to the house. She knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

“I need to see Steve. Is he here?” Jean asked when the door was opened. Mary moved to the side and pointed towards the living room. “It’s okay, I don’t want to go in, just tell him he needs to get to the Hawaii Yacht Club at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor as soon as he can.” Jean turned and walked away.

Mary closed the door and went back to the living room. “Steve...” she started. Steve looked up when his name was called. “Jean was just at the door. She said you need to get to the Hawaii Yacht Club as soon as you can.”

“I’m getting so sick of this chicken run around!” Lizanne snapped, already irritated.

“I am too, but if it gets me Keilana back, then I’m going.” Steve stood and grabbed his keys off the side table and walked out of the room.

“Don’t think I’m not staying.” Danny quickly followed him.

Within minutes, the group was on their way from Steve’s house to the Yacht Club to see if Catherine was still there. 

On the way, they finally got a return call from Chin with the information on Nick that Steve would need. “While he hasn’t been in contact with Catherine, he’s in some sort of work release program,” Chin paused for a moment, “and Danny, he works for, or should I say with, Catherine’s father Mark.”

“Great!” Danny exclaimed. “Where do they work?”

“Mark’s company owns a yacht that’s currently docked at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.”

“Thanks Chin,” Danny added, “You and Kono….”

Kono broke in on the conversation. “Danny, Catherine’s credit card was just used at a store five miles from here; I was about to head that way.”

“That’s even better.” Danny repeated the news to Steve, who was concentrating on the road. “Chin, you and Lori meet us at the Yacht Club. We’re 30 minutes out, 20 with the way Steve is driving. Jean came by the house not too long ago and told Mary that’s where Catherine was.”

“Should I call Duke to have him meet you there?” Kono asked.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea for someone from HPD to be there if Nick happens to be there with Catherine.” Danny looked at Steve for a moment. “I do not want to have to break up a fight between them.”

“See you there,” Chin said before ending the call.

+*+

Catherine was distraught over the incessant crying that Keilana was doing. She got to a point where she left the baby crying in the carrier so that she could go to the adjoining room to get away from the noise.

While she was in the next room, Catherine’s father and Nick walked into the Yacht Club through the back entrance nearest the rooms that Catherine and Keilana were in. They heard the crying but didn’t know where it was coming from.

“Did one of the other members bring their kids?” Nick asked. He’d been working with Mark long enough to know that there were quite a few families who frequented the Yacht Club and some even had babies.

“Not that I know of,” Mark said. “But any of them could have come while we were setting up the Betty Jean.” Betty Jean was the name of the Rollins’ main yacht.

They followed the sound of the crying and came to the room where Keilana was sitting in her carrier on the sofa. Mark walked to the front of the sofa and looked into the carrier. “It’s Keilana.”

“Catherine’s baby?” Nick asked. He joined Mark in front of the sofa and looked at the baby. “That’s her? She’s changed so much since I last saw her at the hospital.”

“Oh god, this isn’t good.” Mark unhooked the harness and took Keilana out.

Nick looked around the room and saw Catherine’s usual Navy jacket lying across a chair, as well as a baby bag. “That’s Catherine’s jacket; I was with her when she bought it in San Diego. Catherine where are you?!”

There was no answer but the springs of a couch from the other room could be head. “Maybe Jean is here?”

“How and why would Jean have Keilana?” Nick asked

“She sees her every couple of days.” Mark said, “On days when Catherine isn’t there that is.” He gave Nick an assessing look and then continued. “Maybe Steve agreed to let Jean keep her for the day?”

Whoever was in the next room finally walked through the door and joined Mark and Nick. The three people stared at each other but neither of them said anything until Jean joined them as well. She saw Nick, Catherine and Mark who was holding Keilana, all staring at each other.

“Take one last good look at Keilana,” Jean told Mark. “Steve is sure to not let us see her.”

Mark gave his wife a suspicious look. “What do you mean?”

“Catherine took Keilana,” Jean replied. “Steve is on his way over here to get her back.”

Mark looked at his daughter. “Why would you do that?”

“I wanted you and mom to have her,” Catherine sniffled.

“You know we can’t have her when she has a father who is perfectly capable.” Mark was quite firm on that, knowing it was the truth.


	16. Chapter 16

“We’re able to see Keilana as much as we want.” Jean said, “But since you took her without Steve knowing, he’s not going to let us see her ever again.”

Catherine looked at her mother. “What do you mean you get to see her whenever you want?”

“Your father and I have an agreement with Steve. If he’s not able to find a sitter for Keilana, he’ll call us. In fact, starting next month, we’ll have weekend visits so that he and Danny can have a date night,” Jean said.

Catherine slumped into the chair and leaned her head back. “God what have I just done…”

“Lizanne is probably going to tell Steve to take away our visitation,” Jean said.

“She’s the little pit bull of annoyance that keeps humping my leg,” Catherine said. “None of this would have happened if she wouldn’t have said anything.”

“Don’t go blaming this on Lizanne,” Nick said out of the blue. “Sure she took your daughter away from you, but that’s your fault.”

“You were the one who suggested I take Keilana when we talked last week!” Catherine yelled.

“Sarcastically!” Nick said; his voice matching Catherine’s. “I was being sarcastic!”

“Sarcastic or not, Catherine needs to call Lizanne and tell her what happened.” Mark seemed to be the only voice of reason at the moment.

“And what good could that possibly do?” Catherine asked.

“Maybe she’d sympathize with you and convince Steve not to take away our rights to see Keilana.”

“It’d be a cold day in hell before I crawl to Lizanne and ask for anything kind of sympathy.”

Jean pulled her cell phone out of her purse and began to dial Lizanne’s number and looked at Catherine. “Not even if it means your father and I will not be able to see Keilana?” 

Catherine was silent as Jean handed the phone to her and grudgingly took it.

~+~

A mini caravan of cars made their way towards the Hawaii Yacht Club. Steve and Danny were in the Camaro, while Lizanne and Mary were in another car. When they turned on to Ala Moana Blvd, they were joined by Chin, Kono and Lori in Chin’s car, along with a police cruiser.

Lizanne looked at her cell as it rang then she looked at Mary.

“Who is it?” Mary asked as she glanced from the road to Lizanne then looked back at the road.

“It’s Jean again.” Lizanne put the call on speaker, “Hello?”

“Lizanne? It’s Catherine.”

“Why Catherine…what a surprise,” Lizanne said.

“I know you talked to my mom and that my mom called Steve, but I just wanted to tell you that she and my dad didn’t have anything with me taking Keilana.”

“And you’re telling me this because?” Lizanne asked.

~+~

While Catherine and Lizanne were talking, Nick pointed out the open window at the three cars and police car that were parking in front of the Yacht Club. “Hell just got colder…” he walked to the other side of the room in hopes of not being in the line of fire from Steve or Lizanne.

“Because…because I don’t want Steve to take my parents’ right to see Keilana away.”

“This is something you should talk with Steve about,” Lizanne said as she got out of the car, “and not over the phone.”

“Okay, I’ll be over in five minutes…with Keilana.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lizanne said. “We’ve already made the trip.” She ended the call as the rest of the group got out of the other cars and walked up the path to the sliding door that led to the private room where Jean, Mark, Catherine, Keilana and Nick were.

Jean unlatched the lock on the door and opened it just as Steve got to it.

“Where’s Keilana?” Steve asked when he walked into the room.

Jean pointed to Mark who was sitting on the sofa and feeding Keilana. “She’s fine Steve…” Mark said softly.

Steve looked from Mark to Catherine. “Why did you take her?”

Catherine avoided making eye contact with Steve. “I don’t know….”

“That’s not a good enough answer for me Catherine,” Steve responded. He was trying hard to control the anger building in him and he knew that if Mary or Danny, or anyone else who came with him weren’t there, he’d be yelling and threatening right now. “I know for a fact that’s not the truth!”

“Were you going to take her off the Island?” Danny asked.

“Or out of the country?” Mary added.

Catherine’s eyes went wide as she looked at Mary. “How crazy do you think I am?!” she asked. “All I wanted was for my parents to see her!”

“Then why did Jean come to my house and tell me I needed to get here soon?” Steve demanded to know.

Catherine looked at Steve. “Did you think I was going to take Keilana out of the country?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Steve admitted. He walked to Mark and accepted his daughter from him. “You took my daughter and no one knew where you were.”

“My mother knew,” Catherine said. “Why didn’t you ask her?”

All eyes turned to Jean. “I found out an hour ago,” she said, “when I saw all the baby stuff that Catherine had in her suitcase.”

Everyone looked back at Catherine. 

“You still want to stick to your story of not taking Keilana off the Island or out of the country?” Lizanne asked

“I bought those things for my mom to have,” Catherine explained. “I was going to leave Keilana with her and then once I was out of the country I was going to call Steve and tell him where she was.”

“Did you actually think you could make it out of the country, let alone off the Island?” Steve asked. “That’s as stupid as me believing that the idea hadn’t crossed your mind.”

“Well I wasn’t,” Catherine said. She put her hands to her head and shook it some. “I wasn’t going to leave the country with her. I thought about going to Maui with her and having my mom meet me there, but not out of the country!”

“I don’t think anyone in this room believes that,” Danny added sarcastically.

“Well it’s the truth and whether you believe it or not, is your problem,” Catherine sneered at him.

“Oh, it’s your problem too,” Steve said. “Not only did you just ruin any chances of having anything to do with Keilana, but you ruined any chances of your parents having anything to do with her.”

“They had nothing to do with me taking her, Steve!” Catherine yelled. “Don’t punish them because you’re pissed at me!”

“Funny thing about being a parent…it’s my choice who can and can’t see my daughter,” Steve said putting Keilana back in her carrier. “And I say that no one outside my family can see her.”

“Steve that’s not fair and you know it,” Mary said in a rare defense of Catherine’s parents. “Jean and Mark didn’t take Keilana so why are you taking her away from them?”

Steve looked at his sister. “How do I know that when I leave her here with them, they wouldn’t try to take her away?” 

“You have to trust them.” Mary said.

“I trusted one Rollins and looked what happened.” Steve shook his head, “I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

“Taking Keilana away isn’t the right thing to do Steve,” Mary continued. “Granted, I’m a bit wary about letting there be unsupervised visits, but taking Keilana completely away? That’s not fair.”

Steve looked back at Mary. “I thought you were on my side.”

“We’re all on your side,” Lizanne said. She stepped closer to Steve and placed a hand on his arm. “I want what’s best for Keilana. And what’s best for Keilana is for her grandparents to still be in her life. They’re the only ones, on the Islands, she has.”

The group was very aware of how Danny’s family all but adopted Steve, Mary and Keilana into the family despite having not met them, but they were 6,000 miles away. The first time they’d meet Steve or Keilana would be over the summer when Danny, Grace, Steve and Keilana went to New Jersey for a few weeks.

Steve sighed. “I don’t know. I need to think about it again.”

Mark stood up and walked to Steve. “Take as much time as you need to think about it. We’ll go along with whatever you ultimately decide.”

“But you need to know, we would never betray your trust in us by trying to take Keilana without you knowing,” Jean added. She walked to Keilana’s carrier, kissed the little girls head and walked out of the room.

“Do you hate me so much that you would do this to my parents to get back at me?” Catherine asked after her mother left. “I’ll give up all my rights to Keilana, I won’t ask for anything from you having to do with Keilana. Just let my parents stay in Keilana’s life.”

“What part of ‘I have to think about it’ doesn’t anyone understand?” he asked to no one in particular, but looked at Catherine. “Plead all you want, but that isn’t going to make me change my mind any sooner.”

Steve looked at the group who arrived with him. “I’m leaving now if you guys want to leave with me.” They nodded their heads, stood up and began to leave the room.

Steve looked at Mark. “You’ll have my decision at the end of the week.” Mark nodded his head and went to see about his wife.

“You’ll be hearing from me in the coming days.” Lizanne said to Catherine. “Papers need to be drawn up.” Catherine didn’t respond. 

Steve made sure Keilana was buckled in the carrier before walking out of the yacht club house. The drive back to Steve’s house was a quiet one. Steve’s need to have Keilana next to him had the group changing the cars they were in. Chin, Mary and Steve were in Chin’s car; Lori was dropped off back at HQ by Danny and Lizanne left in her own car. Steve sat in the back of Chin’s car next to Keilana’s seat and held the pacifier she was frantically sucking on. Once they were back at Steve’s house no one knew what to say or if they should say anything.

“I’ll be upstairs with Keilana.” Steve said. He turned and looked at Lizanne, “How long before those custody papers are ready?”

“It may take a couple days,” Lizanne said. “I have to get in contact with your lawyer and Catherine’s lawyer so we can sit and talk about this.”

“I want them tomorrow.” He said as he walked up the stairs.

“And if we had other things we had planned already?”

Steve didn’t turn around. “Tomorrow or Jean and Mark won’t be able to see Keilana.”

Lizanne sighed and shook her head. “Looks like it’ll be a long night at the office for me.” She grabbed her briefcase, said goodbye to the group and headed back to her office. It was already pretty late, but she hoped Robert Jamison and Cole Paulson were still available and willing to meet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last completed chapter I have. For the last few weeks I've been stuck on the final 2 chapters so it's slow going getting them done, but I WILL get them done, it's just going to take some time.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now we have the custody agreement and a little bit of domestic fluff

Three hours later Lizanne, Robert and Cole were sitting in Lizanne’s office trying to come to some kind of compromise. Cole didn’t want Catherine to be completely out of Keilana’s life; Robert and Lizanne both wanted Catherine to face the consequences for taking Keilana without Steve’s knowledge, but Lizanne also wanted to revoke Catherine’s parental rights to Keilana.

“This is the ultimate example of what’s wrong with our society,” Cole said, “Because Steve is some big shot with the Governor, he’s getting special treatment.”

“Special treatment? What special treatment?” Lizanne asked. “This has nothing to do with Steve being the head of the Governor’s task force but everything to do with Catherine taking Keilana from Steve without anyone knowing.”

“Since when does she have to inform anyone that she’s taking her daughter?” Cole asked. “Which she has every right to do.”

“Not when she only had visitation,” Robert said. “Catherine and Steve had an oral agreement before she left Hawaii saying that she was giving up her rights and Steve was sympathetic enough to let her continue to see Keilana.”

“No legal documents were drawn up stating that Catherine was giving up her rights,” Cole said.

“A verbal agreement is just as binding as a paper agreement,” Lizanne said. “Especially when there were plenty of people who witnessed the conversation.”

“That was held under duress,” Cole added. “Catherine had just given birth and she was in an emotional state.”

“She could have avoided that had she been honest from the very beginning,” Robert said.

“True as that may be, that’s neither here nor there,” Cole said. “I’ll agree to everything as long as Jean and Mark are still able to see Keilana.”

“Okay,” Robert and Lizanne said in agreement.

“And that Catherine never sees the inside of a jail or court room for this supposed _kidnapping_.”

“I can’t agree with that until I talk to Steve,” Robert said

“Then Catherine isn’t signing anything,” Cole said

“Jesus Christ!” Lizanne exclaimed. She reached for the phone, dialed Steve’s number and placed him on speaker. “Steve, its Lizanne.”

“Did you get the papers finished?” Steve asked

“Almost,” she said. “We’ve hit a snag.”

“What kind of snag?”

“Don’t press charges against Catherine,” Cole said. “And she’ll agree to everything else.”

“Lizanne…Robert what do you think?”

“This is all you,” Robert said. “She won’t have anything to do with Keilana, but Jean and Mark will still be able to see their granddaughter.”

Steve thought a moment. “No charges. I don’t want her to see Catherine.”

“Okay, fine,” Cole said. “You’ll have the papers signed by the end of the week.”

Steve hung up the phone and Lizanne pressed the speaker button on her phone to end the call. “So I trust we’re done here?” Lizanne asked.

“For now,” Cole said. “Catherine will sign the papers, but I’d like to know how you plan on keeping her from seeing Keilana.”

“If Jean and Mark want to be in Keilana’s life, I’m sure something could be worked out on that end,” Robert said.

“Then gentlemen,” Lizanne said standing up and walking to her office door and pulling it open, “It was a pleasure doing business with you and I look forward to having those papers at the end of them week.” Robert and Cole stood up and walked out of Lizanne’s office. Lizanne closed the door behind them, walked back to her desk and began to type up the custody arrangement to send to Cole and Robert the next morning.

\------

Though it took longer than Steve liked to get the drawn up custody papers, once he had them, he was able to read them over and discuss the agreement with Danny. Danny knew that Steve was still pretty upset about what Catherine had done and Danny knew the vengeful side of Steve wanted to lock Catherine up, but if that happened, then there would have been no way for any sort of custody agreement to have been drawn up.

Once all the paperwork was signed and filed with the courts, Steve, Jean and Mark met to discuss a visitation schedule. Jean was retired and spent quite a bit of time at home and said that she would have no problem watching Keilana during the week while Steve was at work. Mark was still doing private contract work that had him busy on the Big Island and Maui so Jean was home by herself most days.

In the end, the visitation, babysitting, plans were set. Jean would watch Keilana twice a week, not including the one weekend when Jean would watch the baby so Steve and Danny could go out.

\------

In the four months following the confrontation with Catherine, things had gone smoothly. Jean and Mark were more than pleased with the twice weekly visits they’d have with their granddaughter. Jean also began to speak to Steve on a weekly basis about what Catherine was up to. Jean knew that as much as Steve claimed to not care what was going on with Catherine, she knew that a part of Steve would always care for her as the mother of Keilana.

Nick was still working with Mark, but knew enough of their schedule to know when he needed to keep away from the yacht club and work at the harbor instead or at one of his other jobs. The last thing he wanted to do was mess with Mark and Jean’s visitation with their granddaughter.

Catherine showed up on the Island about once a month, but stuck to Maui and her parents’ vacation home and let them come to her. Shortly after her parents told her they finalized a visitation schedule with Steve, she was upset they wouldn’t let her come to the house at all while they had Keilana. Catherine knew they were only following the rules that Steve set up, but she still didn’t think it was fair that someone was dictating her relationship with her parents.

\------

Steve and Danny eventually finalized the plans for their trip to New Jersey. It was hard convincing Denning to agree to both Steve and Danny taking their vacation at the same time, but with Chin, Kono and Lori still being there to run things, they'd have additional help from HPD and should the need for Danny or Steve to return separately or together, they were a phone call away.

Grace would be going with Danny and Steve to New Jersey for a couple of weeks, then Rachel would fly in, pick her up and head to London to spend a couple of weeks there before going back to Hawaii in time for her birthday and the start of school.

“Are you sure there isn’t anything else I need to have for Keilana during the three weeks we’re visiting your family?” Steve asked as he sorted through Keilana’s clothes.

Danny resisted rolling his eyes. He'd already convinced Steve it wasn't necessary to pack up all of Keilana's clothes to take with them because the majority of the time they'd be at one of his Uncle's vacation houses on Long Beach Island and Keilana would probably be too uncomfortable wearing much of anything besides lots of sun block and her diaper.

“Babe, just take enough diapers for the flight over and then enough clothes for a couple of weeks. You know my Ma and sisters are going to have a ton of clothes to give you to bring back,” Danny explained. “Anything else we may need, we can buy.”

Steve sighed. “I know. I just want to be prepared.”

Danny walked to Steve, took the sun dress out of his hand and placed it on the bed. “Trust me, you are more than prepared.” He wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist and gave him a squeeze. “But it wouldn’t hurt to go through her clothes and donate the stuff that’s she’s too big for.”

Steve grunted in response, wrapped his arms around Danny and hugged him back. “Will you help me, Danno?”

Danny nodded his head, released Steve and looked at the baby clothes currently covering their bed. “How does she have so many clothes? Gracie didn’t have this much when she was a baby.”

“Gracie didn’t have the Kalakaua Aunties and Mary spoiling her,” Steve said with a grin.

"Don't talk to me about spoiling. You forget I have three sisters who love spoiling my girls and my Ma will do her share too," Danny added.

Steve loved hearing Danny say _girls_ ; loved knowing that Danny considered Keilana _his_ daughter and not just his boyfriend’s daughter. Steve especially loved the look Danny got when Keilana held her arms up to Danny.

“Well there you go,” Steve laughed. “That’s why Keilana has so many clothes. And don’t think I didn’t notice the new Yankees shirts you ordered for her last week.”

Danny laughed in response and continued to sort through the clothes. “She still wears the 6 month clothes, right?”

“Yeah, in some things,” Steve replied, “but for the most part I’ve been getting her 9 month clothes.”

Once they finished sorting through Keilana’s clothing, it was almost time for dinner and that meant Rachel would be returning with Keilana and Grace. Danny figured they’d have about 30 minutes before both Keilana and Grace began to whine and beg for food so he made his way to the kitchen.

Earlier in the day, Malia stopped by with barbequed mahi-mahi and orange mango sauce because she heard from Chin how Danny really liked it. Malia left instructions on how to heat it up so by the time Danny heard Grace chattering away at the front of the house, everything was piping hot.

“Hey Monkey! How was tennis practice?” Danny asked as he gave Grace a hug and kiss.

“It was great Danno!” Grace replied as he pulled off her sweater and put it next to her backpack. “I won two sets, but lost the match.”

Danny could tell that Grace wasn’t upset about losing or he would have heard about it on the way to the house.

“Hey, Rach. Thanks for taking Lana with you.” Danny said as he took the carrier from Rachel.

“Oh it was no problem, and you know that,” Rachel chided.

Soon after, Steve joined them and they sat down to dinner. Grace retold the tennis match in vivid detail to Steve while he busied himself with Keilana. After dinner, Rachel excused herself earlier than usual saying something about Stan returning from a business trip early because he’d gotten sick. Grace gave her mother a hug goodbye and went back to helping clear the table of the used dinner plates and forks.

“Hope Stan isn’t too sick,” Steve said as he walked Rachel to the door.

“He said it was a touch of food poisoning, but I’ll know more when I get home,” Rachel said. “Oh, Steve. She was a little fussy earlier. She had a slight fever, but it went down after she woke up from her nap. So make sure you monitor that.”

“Thanks, Rachel. I will,” Steve gave her a hug as she walked out of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For any tennis players out there, I played tennis with the boys and we always did best 3 of 5 won the match, so that's what I did for Grace. I've since learned that in women's, it's best 2 of 3 wins. *shrugs*
> 
> Also, all my wonderful readers, you're in luck! I've added another chapter (maybe a 2nd chapter) before the **FINAL ENDING**. This story keeps growing, but this next chapter I'm working on (it's the newly added one), kind of came out of the blue. My beta thinks it's a good idea, so I'm working on it as fast as I can (it's maybe 25% complete).


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> something unexpected happens

Two months before they were set to leave, newspaper clippings about civil unions began to appear on both Steve and Danny’s desks at the office and at least one came in the mail to the house. Danny and Steve both suspected the other of dropping rather obvious hints, but said nothing about it.

During Mary’s last bi-monthly visit, she managed to corner her brother and Danny on separate occasions to ask them about the _rumors_ she’d been hearing. Neither had a clue what she was talking about.

“Really, Mare…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Steve replied. He leaned away from the tub hoping to avoid being splashed by Keilana.

“All I’m saying is that if there’s a wedding or civil union, I better be there,” Mary pushed her brother out of the way, grabbed the baby towel and picked Keilana up from the baby tub to dry her off.

“Who’s getting married?” Danny asked as he walked by the bathroom.

“You and Steve. Kono told me that you extended your stay in New Jersey by two weeks…and you know that civil unions are legal there.”

“I don’t see why I’d go all the way to _New Jersey_ to do that,” Steve replied, putting emphasis on state.

“And Steve hasn’t asked me yet,” Danny added.

Steve gave Danny a look. “Why would _I_ be the one asking?” he asked. “Why can’t you ask?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Danny said. He began to tick off on his fingers all the reasons why it was right for Steve to be the one asking. “ **You** asked me to move in, **You** get indignant when someone refers to you as the girl in the relationship…” then it dawned on him that Steve really expected him to propose. “Why would _I_ ask you?”

“Because **you’ve** been leaving me newspaper articles about civil unions being legal in New Jersey,” Steve said eyeing Danny.

“I’ve been getting the same thing, but with Hawaii.” Danny said. “You never answered my question. Why would I ask you?”

“Because you love me?” Steve asked with a lopsided grin.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Well, yes, but you love me too, so you could have asked me.”

“I could have, but you know I don’t handle rejection well.”

“When have I ever rejected you?” Danny asked. His hands were chopping through the air as he spoke. “We’ve known each other three years and been together eight months and I’ve yet to reject you or deny you anything.”

“Well there was that one time…” Steve laughed.

“Outside of work, I have yet to reject you or deny you anything,” Danny amended with a roll of his eyes

“So,” Steve said as he moved closer to Danny, “if I were to ask you to spend the rest of our lives together, you’d say yes?”

\------

While Mary was in the nursery with Keilana, she had Kono on speaker phone relaying the conversation between Danny and Steve.

“I can’t believe they’re totally buying all of this,” Mary said with a laugh.

“What’s going on?” Kono asked.

“They had no idea we were behind the articles,” Mary said, “Danny actually thought it was Steve and Steve thought it was Danny.”

Kono laughed. “And the magazines?”

“I don’t know if they even noticed them,” Mary replied honestly. “They’ve been busy getting ready for their trip and it doesn’t even look like the living room’s been used with the exception of Keilana’s toys.”

“Hey, tell me what they’re doing now?” Kono asked.

Mary looked out of the nursery and saw Steve and Danny kissing. “I’ll call you back in a bit when I find out.” She ended the call, finished drying off Keilana and dressed her in her ducky pajamas.

\------

“I’d give it consideration,” Danny began. Steve looked at him with a hopeful expression. “But I don’t think I could reject you like that.”

Steve smiled and kissed him. “I love you Danny. Is that a yes?”

Danny kissed him back. “Was there a proposal in there somewhere?”

“It was implied,” Steve mumbled. “I’m not good with the grand romantic gestures.”

“You goof,” Danny replied fondly.

“Lamest proposal ever!” Mary called out from Keilana’s nursery. Steve and Danny pulled away with a huff of a laugh.

“Mary Ann McGarrett!” Danny yelled. “This is your doing isn’t it?”

Mary gave an innocent shrug as she hugged her niece before handing her to Steve. “I plead the fifth?”

Danny snorted as he reached out to her for a hug. “It’s okay. I still love you like the annoying little sister you are.”

“Just what I need…another overprotective brother,” Mary joked as she moved closer to Danny and gave him a hug.

“But I’m the fun one,” Danny kissed her temple and smirked at Steve who rolled his eyes.

“I expect to hear of a non-lame proposal soon!” she called out as she headed down the stairs.

\------

A couple of weeks after the _implied_ marriage proposal, Steve worked up the nerve to propose to Danny. Steve also enlisted the help of Chin to digitally alter a movie to include the proposal.

The day that Steve was to propose, he was a bundle of nerves. They had just dropped Keilana off with Jean and Mark and they had reservations for dinner at Buca Di Beppo. Steve knew that Danny had been homesick for his mother’s lasagna and chicken cannelloni and was counting down the days until he could have it. There’s also another reason Steve picked Buca Di Beppo for this dinner. It was where their first official date, post Keilana’s birth, took place.

Once they arrived at the restaurant, they were promptly seated and the drink orders were taken. While they drank and waited for the waiter to return for the meal order, Danny talked more about his parents.

_“Ma is Spanish and Italian. Her parents moved here right after they were married. They wanted a better life. Pops and his family have been around the New York area forever. Zayde Aaron was a Rabbi and Bubba Anna was a nurse.”_

And he talked more about his siblings, mostly his sisters since Steve pretty much knew everything about Matthew.

The waiter returned to take their order – they were going to split the lasagna and chicken cannelloni. Steve opened up about his mother.

_“Mom was from a small town in Iowa and had never gone anywhere. When she graduated high school she wanted to travel, but Grams Mary insisted she have an education. Before she graduated, she won a scholarship to the University of Hawaii and finished her education out here. She ended up teaching elementary school.”_

_“I bet coming from Iowa, Hawaii was a shock to her.” Danny commented_

_“Yeah, you could say that. She met dad when he was on leave. His family had been here for years. You know my Grandfather died at Pearl Harbor. My Aunt Carol actually introduced Mom and Dad to each other. According to her, it was love at first sight.”_

_“Yeah, you McGarretts are hard to resist.” Danny replied with a smirk._

Their dinner arrived and they ate in companionable silence. For dessert, Steve splurged and had Chocolate Chip Cannoli while Danny had a slice of cheesecake. Halfway through, they swapped desserts.

“For reliving our first date, this was really nice.” Danny said. “I’m glad we got the chance to do this.”

Steve smiled. “The night’s not over, yet Danno.” Steve said as he paid for their meal.

\------

They arrived back to the house and Steve talked Danny into a walk on the beach. They changed out of the suits they wore to dinner and put on board shorts and tee-shirts and headed to the beach. After about an hour, they returned and Steve suggested they watch a movie. He asked Danny if he had a preference, and thankfully Danny said he didn’t. That allowed for Steve to choose the correct movie, and hope the rest of the night continued as wonderfully as it had been going.

While Steve set up the movie, Danny went to change out of his sea salt damp board shorts and into comfortable pajama pants and tee. Steve grabbed his sweats from the laundry room and changed in the kitchen. He chuckled to himself as he thought about what Danny would say about him changing out in the open like that.

Danny and Steve returned to the living room at the same time and curled up on the couch to watch the movie Steve picked.

“So…what did you pick?” Danny asked.

“It’s a surprise,” Steve said with a hopeful smile, “but I think you’ll like it.”

Soon the movie was starting and before the opening credits began, Danny knew what Steve picked. “No,” Danny said as he moved from his resting position against Steve. “No, we aren’t going to watch this.”

Steve looked at Danny, confusion on his face. “Why not? I thought you liked _Enemy Mine_.”

“I refuse to watch it with you because the last two times we watched it, you made fun of me.” Danny moved to stand up and walk to the DVD player to stop the movie, but Steve reached out and grabbed his arm.

“I promise I won’t make fun of you,” Steve said. “I will let you watch in peace.” Steve tugged on Danny’s arm until he relented and joined him back on the couch.

True to his word, Steve let Danny watch the movie in peace. As the minutes ticked away and it got closer to the edited scene, Steve became more and more anxious. He knew that Danny would accept his proposal, but he was still nervous. The last time he prepared to propose to someone he loved; he never got the chance to follow through with it.

Around the one hour mark, the spot that had been edited, Steve mumbled about needing to go to the bathroom, but slipped into the study to retrieve the ring he got for Danny. He waited until he heard his voice coming from the TV to return to the living room. The scene that Steve chose to have edited was where Jeriba was teaching Davidge his full lineage and explaining that it is a social necessity if his child is to be accepted into Drac society. Instead of hearing Jeriba and Davidge speaking, Steve’s voice came through loud and clear.

_“Danny, these last nine months have been so great with you and I don’t want to go another day without being able to tell everyone that you’re mine, always and forever. Will you marry me?”_

Steve went to one knee, and held out the open black velvet box with the simple silver band with the McGarrett family crest etched in it.

Danny looked from the TV to Steve and back to the TV. Steve knew that Danny wasn’t expecting a proposal, even though they talked about it weeks earlier.

The silence lasted a few seconds longer before Danny found his voice and replied with a shaky, “YES!”

Steve let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. Before he could take the ring out of the box to put on Danny’s finger, Danny took the ring himself. He didn’t take it out of the box, but he wanted a closer look at the design on the ring.

“Tell me what it is,” Danny said as he looked from the ring to Steve.

“It’s the McGarrett Family crest. This ring belonged to my Grandfather. He never took it off but the night before the attack, he’d taken it off and gave it to my grandmother for her to take it to be cleaned,” Steve explained as he took it back from Danny. “All the McGarrett men get a ring when they turn 18. Being the oldest, I got my Grandfather’s, plus a ring of my own and I gave Mary our Dad’s ring.”

Danny held out his left hand to Steve when he took the ring out of the box. “Where’s your ring?”

“In the safe with my dog tags,” Steve replied as he slid the ring on to Danny’s finger.

Danny leaned forward on the couch and wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck. “I love you,” he whispered, “I love you so much.”

Steve pulled Danny closer and kissed his lips. “I love you too.”

\------

Their engagement remained a secret for all of 60 hours. Mary returned unexpectedly saying she had good news to share with her family, but wanted to tell Steve and Danny first. Monday afternoon Mary decided she would treat her brothers to dinner and Steve and Danny said they’d meet her at Tiki’s Bar & Grill after they finished in their meeting with the Governor.

Like usual, the meeting with the Governor lasted longer than they planned but thankfully, Rachel would be getting Keilana from Jean and Mark’s, so Steve and Danny left the Governor’s office and headed to meet Mary.

When they got to Tiki’s, Mary was sitting on the second floor balcony waiting for them and sipping on a Primo.

“Sorry we’re late, Mare,” Steve said as he gave her a hug and kissed her temple. He pulled out a chair and sat down. “Danny’s talking with Grace so he should be coming up in a bit.”

“No worries,” Mary smiled. “I don’t leave out until first thing tomorrow morning, but I wanted to do a bit of light celebrating.”

“What’s the news?” Steve asked. He looked Mary up and down. “Something looks different about you…”

“I’ll wait until Danny arrives to tell you. Save on having to repeat it.”

“Tell me what?” Danny asked as he walked on to the balcony to join them

“My good news of course!” Mary smiled

Mary had taken the time she was waiting for Danny and Steve to show up to order lettuce wraps for them to share and it was just being placed on the table in front of them along with their beers.

“You guys still drink Primo, right?” Mary smirked as Danny covered his face with his hands.

“Oh my God!” Mary yelled and jumped up. Steve jumped up as well, thinking that something was going down and Danny slid his hands from in front of his face to look around.

“What…what…?” Steve and Danny asked at the same time.

“YOU DID IT!” Mary exclaimed. “When did that happen?” She pointed to Danny’s hand.

Steve was still on high alert, but slowly relaxed as he sat back in his chair and looked to what Mary was pointing at and smiled.

Danny looked at his hand and smiled as well. “This weekend. It happened this weekend.” He twisted the ring on his finger.

“And you didn’t bother to tell me!?” She leaned across the table and smacked both of their arms.

“We haven’t exactly told anyone,” Steve replied.

“It happened then we went to work today,” Danny added.

“Well.” Mary sighed and sat down. “Let me see the ring.” She held out her hand to Danny.

“It’s our Grandfather’s ring,” Steve said.

Mary snapped her head and looked at him. “You gave it to him?”

“It was mine to give,” Steve replied, his body tightening defensively.

“I know that. I’m just surprised,” Mary said. She didn’t mean for her question to sound negative or make Steve think she wasn’t happy. “You were undecided about giving it to Catherine when you were going to propose.”

“Well, it is a man’s ring.” Steve said with a smirk.

“I used to wear dad’s ring on my thumb before I got my job.” Mary snapped her mouth shut when Steve and Danny looked at her.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At last we find out what Mary's job is...and there's a minor family emergency.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s been a little over 6 months since my last update. I’ve had writer’s block for this story like you wouldn’t believe and no matter how many times I re-read what I’d already written, I couldn’t figure out the filler chapters so that I could get to the ending.
> 
> I’ve got a rough outline for chapter 20 and chapter 21 may or may not be scrapped and turned into a time stamp – it all depends on how I end chapter 20.

“You got a job?” Danny and Steve asked at the same time.

Mary nodded her head. “That’s kind of why I’m back in town now,” she paused and tucked some of her hair behind her ear, “for good.”

“That’s great Mare!” Steve said as he moved to hug his sister. “Where will you be working?”

“I’ll be a clerk with Child Welfare Services until I finish my degree and then I’m hoping to become a permanent social worker.” 

“I’m proud of you, little sister,” Danny said with a smile. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you when you said you were going back to school.”

Mary laughed. “Well I didn’t exactly prove to you guys that I was serious about it.”

Steve and Danny nodded in agreement. Steve took his seat and picked up his beer to take a sip.

“So if you’re back here, where are you going tomorrow morning?” Steve asked.

“There’s a six month position on the Big Island and that’s where I’ll be,” Mary said.

“What about your classes?” Danny asked.

“They’re online and extension courses. My counselor gave me the name of a counselor there who can help me if I have any questions.”

“So, six months on the Big Island, then what?” Steve asked. “Will you be coming back here or staying there?”

“The position there is temporary so I’ll be coming back here and hopefully the permanent I have my eye on in Waipahu will still be available.”

Steve couldn’t help but smile at Mary. She had turned her life around so much the last year, despite, or maybe in spite of, the vote of confidence from him and Danny.

“You want me to make a few calls to make sure it stays open?” Steve asked.

“He will do it too,” Danny added with a laugh.

“That’s okay big brother,” Mary laughed. “If it’s not available, I’ll go back to the Big Island and work temporary positions until a permanent one opens back here.”

The trio continued talking for a few hours. Mary filled them in on her classes and everything she was learning both in class and on the job. Steve and Danny filled Mary in on how Keilana and Grace were doing and the status of their trip to New Jersey. Mary managed to talk Steve and Danny into having a celebratory barbeque on the weekend since they hadn’t told anyone else about their engagement.

They eventually parted ways. Mary already booked a hotel room for the night because of her early morning flight and said she would see them on Saturday but would call or e-mail them when she had a flight finalized. Danny and Steve left to pick Keilana up from her day with Rachel.

When Steve and Danny get to the Edwards’ home, it was late but the lights in the front room were on as were the lights on the second floor in Grace’s room and the room Rachel used for Keilana. Steve became worried by this because at 11 p.m., both girls should be asleep. Steve parked the Camaro, got out and headed for the front door.

“Steve…Steven….” Danny said as he rushed to get out of the car and catch up to his clearly worried fiancé. “Would you just wait a minute?!” Danny finally reached Steve and grabbed his arm to keep him from busting into the house.

“What Danny, what?!” Steve asked. “What’s so important that you stopped me from going inside to see if there’s something wrong with our daughter?”

Danny had to fight to keep the smile from his face when Steve referred to Keilana as their daughter. He looked at Steve and held up his phone. “Got a text from Rachel. It came while we were at dinner but I didn’t hear it. She says that she and Grace came down with something and Stan was watching Lana in the front room.”

Steve let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. His baby was okay, but Grace and Rachel were sick. It had to have been from something they had for dinner because Danny would have said something if it happened while he talked to Grace earlier.

Danny knocked on the door and they could hear Stan’s muffled voice as he made his way from the front room to the door. A few minutes later, there was a clicking as the door was unlocked and opened.

“I told you it was your daddies,” Stan whispered to the little girl he was holding. Steve smiled and reached for his daughter and Stan handed her over.

Stan moved to the side to let them enter. “Grace and Rachel are upstairs. I think they just went to sleep.” Stan closed the door when they entered and walked to the front room; Steve and Danny followed.

Danny walked to the couch and sat down. “I got Rachel’s text from earlier. I’m sorry I didn’t call, but I didn’t feel or hear it. What happened to them?”

Steve sat on the recliner that had Keilana’s baby blanket and covered her with it as he rocked her back to sleep.

“Rachel ordered from this new Thai restaurant on Ala Moana by the _Grand Waikikian_ for dinner,” Stan began, “they had that, but I had just returned from a dinner meeting and didn’t eat with them.”

“How long after they ate did they get sick?” Danny asked as he glanced up the stairs. Steve could tell he was itching to check on Grace.

“It couldn’t have been more than an hour after. They had dinner, Grace went for her bath and to get a book to read to Keilana and came back down here,” Stan said. “Rachel went up for her shower and when she didn’t come back after 30 minutes, I went up to check on her.” Stan ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “Not five minute later Grace was calling out for me. I got half way down the stairs and saw her throwing up in the hall between my office and the stairs.”

By this time Danny had given up on any semblance of staying in the room. He stood up and made his way from the front room to the stairs.

Steve looked at his watch. “Fifteen minutes.” Stan gave him a confused look. “It took Danny 15 minutes to stop fighting his desire to check on Grace.”

Stan nodded his head in understanding and began to clean up the toys and other objects that belonged to Keilana. He knew that after Danny checked on Grace (and Rachel), Steve would go up to check on them then they would head home. Steve looked down at his daughter and noticed she’d fallen back to sleep, so he placed her in her carrier, locked it, and then helped pack away the rest of his daughter’s things.

“I’m gonna head up to check on them. We really need to be going soon.” Steve said.

Stan nodded his head, “I’ll watch the baby.”

Steve smiled his thanks and headed up the stairs in search of Danny. When he got to the landing, he heard Danny’s deep voice coming from Grace’s room. Steve went to the room and saw Danny sitting on the bed and reading to Grace.

Steve lightly tapped on the door to get Danny’s attention. “D, we really have to be going. Keilana is sleep and so is Grace now.”

Danny bit his lip and looked at his daughter who was indeed sleeping. “Yeah, you’re right.” He kissed her forehead, closed the book and placed it on the night stand.

Steve walked into the room to give Grace a kiss as well then followed Danny back down the stairs to gather up Keilana’s things.

“Please call if there’s a change in how they’re doing,” Danny requested.

“Of course,” Stan agreed as he walked them to the front door.

Danny loaded up the car while Steve buckled Keilana into the car seat base. With a final wave to Stan they left and Stan locked up the house.

The following morning, Danny called to check on Grace and Rachel. Stan said they were doing better and had just finished eating toast and apple sauce. Stan explained that Grace wouldn’t be going to school, but if she was feeling better later, she could be picked up for her weekly dinner with him, Steve and Keilana. Before the call ended, Danny told Stan about the barbeque they had planned for Saturday and that if he and Rachel were up to it, they were welcome to join them. Grace would already be with Danny as it was his weekend to have her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was a short chapter. the next chapter will be longer and have more substance to it (as well as some special guests).


	20. Not a Chapter! Sorry to get your hopes up

Hi All!

I should have done this a long time ago (oh about a year ago), but I always thought I'd be finishing up this story sooner, rather than later, but it's looking like that's not the case.

I have every intention of finishing up  _But Why Daddy?_ , but the muse for it has completely moved on. The chapter is partially finished but every time I open the document to finish it, I end up staring at the screen for 30 minutes or getting ideas for other stories.

So until I can get it together to finish it, this story is  **on hiatus**.


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